LUMBERTON — All this week, rising middle and high school American Indian students have become immersed in STEM-related activities at Robeson Community College during the Full STEM Ahead summer camp.

The camp is hosted by RCC’s Project3C, which is grant funded by the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, the Department of Education, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke and RCC.

Project 3C offered several camps including Robotics, Forensics, SCRUBS, Space Camp and Cyber Security.

“I love studying about the solar system,” said Chloe Chavis, who is attending the Space Camp. “I have learned about rockets and NASA. We had a virtual interview with Ms. Sheila Cummings and learned about what she does for a living, working with the military and the equipment they fly.”

Sheila Cummings is the president and CEO of Cummings Aerospace, with headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama and additional locations in Arizona and Florida. She is also a member of the Lumbee Tribe and grew up in Robeson County.

“That was fun, we got to ask her a lot of questions,” Chavis said. “We also learned about life forms and craters on the moon.”

Students also got to have fun excavating rocks to discover a hidden item inside.

“I got an asteroid,” said Chazztee Hunt, who was one of the first to break open the rocks.

He was a bit disappointed in his find, saying, “It’s an asteroid inside of an asteroid.”

Space campers have a field trip planned to the planetarium later on in the week.

Down the hall students were busy learning about cybersecurity.

“I’ve learned that if anything, there is a direct link to your life when it comes to cybersecurity,” said Ian, one of the campers. “If your social security is online, it directly affects you.”

Ian is also enrolled in the robotics camp which takes place in the afternoon.

“I love building stuff,” Ian said.

“We got to meet the robot dog,” said Wyatt, another camper. “We also programmed a conveyor belt and moved plastic cylinders.”

For Raymond, the water pump was the most impressive.

“We used code to control the censors. Water transferred into another container, it’s programmed to automatically shut off and automatically turns back on,” Raymond said.

“We try to show them all aspects of robotics, that it’s a combination of different systems,” said Heath Worriax, the instructor for mechatronics at RCC. “We want them to have exposure to all aspects.”

Across campus, we found students creating brains from play-doh using an app in the SCRUBs camp.

“We are learning about different parts of the brain and how they work,” said Lakyn Jacobs, one of the attendees.

Jacobs also learned about different kinds of diseases like tuberculosis. She also enjoyed listening to a speaker from the Health Department.

“She told us how she was working in the health department during COVID and it was very interesting,” Jacobs said.

Ellarey Barton said that she’s learned a lot so far too in the camp.

“I learned about what surgeons do and what their job is,” Barton said. “We learned about x-rays and how they work, and what you have to do to become someone who does that.”

“We drew bodies and learned about the circulatory system and how blood flows,” said Kayden Locklear. “We did an experiment with mouthwash to see what type of Ph it has.”

For Savannah Oxendine, it’s been interesting learning about the “differences between infections and non-infections, viruses and bacteria and the different pathogens.”

“We modeled this camp after the Allied Health programs available at RCC so that students can be familiar with what’s available within our county,” said Leigh Oxendine, an eighth-grade teacher at Prospect Elementary teaching the SCRUBs camp. “This is a wonderful opportunity that Robeson Community College allows for us to be housed on campus so that students within the county have exposure to a college campus.”

Next door, students in the Forensics camp were growing crystals, making circuits, and testing drugs — acetaphetamin, aspirin and caffeine.

“We learned about crime scenes and how to see if someone got poisoned,” Wesley Waltman said.

“I learned how to identify drugs and how to find out what blood type you are, by putting chemicals into blood, it will show you by reactions to it,” Ansley Locklear added.

Daylen Oxendine said he learned how to make a light with play-doh that turns on and off, but that wasn’t his favorite part.

“I am making friends, like 4 or 5,” Oxendine said. “I’m having a lot of fun.”

The Forensics campers have a field trip planned for the Discover Place in Charlotte later this week.

Cheryl Hemric is the Public Information officer for Robeson Community College. She can be reached at [email protected]

Address: 2175 N. Roberts Ave, Lumberton, NC 28358