Judy Donnelly Three Rivers Community College Norwich, CT LASER CAMP ‘07

Participants  25 high school and middle school students (5 additional students joined us for the Boston trip)  5 college students (1 additional college student joined us for the Boston trip)  4 teachers Funded by grants from  SPIE  Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing (NSF ATE Center) (With lots of support from Three Rivers Community College!)

Students were from: 3 High Schools  Technical  Urban  Rural 2 Middle Schools Home schooled

The day starts with breakfast and instructions Introductions Giving the orders to form groups  2 groups  2 two-hour workshops

Saturday, April 28: Pinhole Cameras Digital positive Oatmeal box negative

Saturday, April 28: Mirror Challenge Happiness is hitting the target.

Saturday, May 5: Holography and Online Laser Game The most challenging activity!

Saturday, May 5: Laser Engraver* Engrave and cut personalized key tags *the only activity requiring access to a large, expensive piece of equipment

Saturday, May 12 Bus trip to Boston  Museum of Science  MIT Museum

Cost of running the Laser Camp  Supplies - $2200 holography plates, engraving materials, t-shirts, museum tickets (includes some one-time expenses, e.g., color LEDs)  Food - $600  Transportation- $1800 Bus or taxi from high schools, coach to Boston  Five student workers -$900 Student labor (free) or hourly rate paid by another grant Teachers: Free labor! Student workers: Cheap labor!

Student evaluations “It was cool.” “The best part of the day was to meet new friends and to be part of a science activity.” “I liked the laser engraver because the machine was awesome.” “Everything was great and fun.” “I thoroughly enjoyed myself and learned a lot…”

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