After 10 years and 584 campers we are growing stronger and improving each year. Many of our campers have graduated HS and are now walking the halls at campuses across the America, majoring in Engineering and many, about 25%, are in a ROTC program. About 60% applied to a Service Academy, 30% were accepted and 20% attended.

We have many graduated from colleges and universities and all service academies. Follow on jobs range from engineering to aviator. And although our data is not perfect we have at least 24+ whom are SAME members.

Cindy has advertised for our combined post luncheon on 30 Jun, BG Rapp, USACE NWD Commander, will be our guest speaker. Ironically, 10 years ago Ed Rapp, BG Rapp’s father, helped start the camp.

We look forward to seeing you on the 30th. All 60 of the campers, 12 YM Mentors and 8 Flight Leaders - Academy cadets will be there. So come prepared to share your engineering stories with the kids and help us sell the profession.

The camp operates under the concept of “Build then Design.” For example, in one of this camp’s most popular hands-on construction activities, students are given a basic lesson on concrete and safety issues, provided with .3 cubic yards of concrete, 3 pieces of #4 rebar and then told to construct the strongest 16 foot concrete beam. The campers, working as a Team, have approximately 3 hours to complete this activity and place their beam – this is the Build phase. At the end of camp, after the beams have cured, we break the beams, and a profession engineer leads a discussion on why certain designs worked better and how the beams failed - the Design phase. This is typical of activities during the week long camp. These tasks challenge students to use their imagination, as well as their problem solving and teamwork skills. The hands-on experience helps ensure that students see, experience and retain what they learn. The USAFA camp is geared toward students interested in joining a service academy and is built on a reduced cable program of what a USAFA cadet in an engineering curriculum goes through. The camp presents a great opportunity for students interested in attending a service academy to get a fi rst-hand look at life on campus.