Wayne Community College’s Camp Kilowatt is paying forward a gift that provided technology for its participants to learn from and enjoy.
The alternative energy/STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) camp for middle and high school students was able to purchase VEX IQ starter kits with controllers with funds from a Duke Energy Foundation grant. With this year’s camp complete, its organizers decided to give more students opportunities to learn from the “Clawbot” robots.
Camp Kilowatt donated eight of robot kits to Tommy’s Road Elementary School for use in its new STEM courses and seven to Wayne School of Engineering. Each kit originally cost $250.
Although the little robots were constructed and customized by the campers, they can be used to introduce STEM and robotics and in teaching programming, said camp director Steven Reese, and the kits contain a variety of parts that can be integrated into each robot, such as sensors.
“Duke Energy gave them to us,” Reese said. “We’re passing them on to others who can benefit from them.”
