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Putting science to work
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| H&N photos by Todd E. Swenson Yan Yan Hui, 16, of San Francisco, left, and Hailee Parker, 15, of Cave Junction work on a component for a wind powered electric generator at the Teen Women in Science and Technology camp at Agency Lake Thursday. |
Camp focuses on science, technology
By DD BIXBY
H&N Staff Writer
AGENCY LAKE — Tightening screws on pieces of a wind turbine, Jessica Dell’Erba, 16, Liz Maynard, 14, and Hallee Parker, 15, worked calmly Thursday as other girls rushed around to find pieces to hold solar-heated, vacuum-sealed glass tubes for a water heater.
The Thursday morning session at a campsite along Agency Lake was part of an Oregon Institute of Technology-sponsored Teen Women in Science and Technology — TWIST — summer camp. Sixteen teenage girls were divided into groups that worked together to reconstruct clean energy generators from a jumble of pieces.
OIT professor and exercise leader Jim Long told the girls to pretend like their groups represented different countries that needed work out fair trades for resources.
The “sustainable village” campground was part of the weeklong science camp that focused this year on renewable energies and sustainability. The campers included teenagers from the Klamath Basin as well as other areas including San Francisco and Eugene.
Katie Edwards, OIT’s high school program coordinator and one of the staff counselors, said the TWIST camp, in its 18th year, always focuses on some aspect of science and technology.
Campers arrived Sunday and bunked in the OIT dorm. They spent the first few days doing labs and learning skills they would need once they set up camp on Sage Community Charter School grounds.
Campers toured a working farm and picked greens for their meals at camp. A dinner at Daywater Café in Klamath Falls included a presentation on consuming local food and what’s available in the immediate area.
Once at camp, the girls tried their hands at living off the power grid.
As they set up camp Wednesday, OIT professors directed the girls in building solar ovens, which in ideal conditions can heat up to 350-degrees Fahrenheit or hotter — plenty warm enough to cook simple meals.
Unfortunately winds kept the ovens at around 200 degrees, and the girls were miffed about their half-cooked muffins Thursday morning. But soon they were engaged in building clean energy.
Sarah Palmer, a 14-year-old Mazama High School student, was working with the rest of her group, trying to figure out her team’s solar water heater.
When asked if the camp presented any challenges, she mentioned the cold and the bugs.
“The mosquitoes are ferocious,” Edwards agreed as girls reached for cans of bug repellent.
The Thursday morning session at a campsite along Agency Lake was part of an Oregon Institute of Technology-sponsored Teen Women in Science and Technology — TWIST — summer camp. Sixteen teenage girls were divided into groups that worked together to reconstruct clean energy generators from a jumble of pieces.
OIT professor and exercise leader Jim Long told the girls to pretend like their groups represented different countries that needed work out fair trades for resources.
The “sustainable village” campground was part of the weeklong science camp that focused this year on renewable energies and sustainability. The campers included teenagers from the Klamath Basin as well as other areas including San Francisco and Eugene.
Katie Edwards, OIT’s high school program coordinator and one of the staff counselors, said the TWIST camp, in its 18th year, always focuses on some aspect of science and technology.
Campers arrived Sunday and bunked in the OIT dorm. They spent the first few days doing labs and learning skills they would need once they set up camp on Sage Community Charter School grounds.
Campers toured a working farm and picked greens for their meals at camp. A dinner at Daywater Café in Klamath Falls included a presentation on consuming local food and what’s available in the immediate area.
Once at camp, the girls tried their hands at living off the power grid.
As they set up camp Wednesday, OIT professors directed the girls in building solar ovens, which in ideal conditions can heat up to 350-degrees Fahrenheit or hotter — plenty warm enough to cook simple meals.
Unfortunately winds kept the ovens at around 200 degrees, and the girls were miffed about their half-cooked muffins Thursday morning. But soon they were engaged in building clean energy.
Sarah Palmer, a 14-year-old Mazama High School student, was working with the rest of her group, trying to figure out her team’s solar water heater.
When asked if the camp presented any challenges, she mentioned the cold and the bugs.
“The mosquitoes are ferocious,” Edwards agreed as girls reached for cans of bug repellent.
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