Blugold Beginnings Summer Camp : an Evaluation of Outcomes for STEM, Transition, and Academic Pre-college Summer Camps

Abstract

Access to summer camp programming has routinely been a challenge for traditionally underrepresented students due to the high costs of registration fees (Orfield, Losen, Wald, & Swanson, 2004). Research has suggested that some differences in student achievement may be directly related to summer learning differences (Alexander, Entwisle, & Olson, 2007). Summer is an important time to maintain academic skills, and many universities utilize the summer months to engage and recruit underrepresented students (Foster & Savala, 2012). The Blugold Beginnings: College and Career Readiness Program works with local schools to provide summer programming options for students in the Greater Eau Claire Area. Local students have the option of attending one of three summer camps at no cost to them. The purpose of this current research was to investigate whether students who attended the Blugold Beginnings Summer Programming sessions tend to show significant changes on measures associated with each of the three summer camps, including their self-reported level of interest in STEM fields, aspirations for post-secondary education, and decrease in their levels of anxiety and stress when transitioning into their new middle school.