Each summer, BEAM helps students in our 9-year Pathway Program find summer enrichment programs to help pursue their interests in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Students have participated in PROMYS, MathPath, and many different pre-college programs. This August, we spoke with three different BEAM students about how they spent their summers.
Helen, BEAM Summer Away 2019 Bard College
This summer, Helen chose to take the Project Gateway course at the Summer STEM Program at Cooper Union. Helen wrote to us after she finished the program:
Helen is a tenth-grader in New York City.
“In this course we became civil engineers, investigating how design and engineering impact our communities. Throughout the three weeks of the program, we created a journal where we went outside and looked at the way our neighborhood was engineered and what effect it had. We also learned how to use AutoCAD, a software program for computer design. Personally, using AutoCAD was the project I was most proud of and enjoyed doing since I’m very interested in computer designing. Our final project was to pick a neighborhood in NYC and redesign the neighborhood. My group and I focused on Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. We improved the traffic, repaired the streets, and made the neighborhood more family-oriented. Since we were learning remotely, we had the opportunity to go on a field trip to a compost yard and learned how composting works and how they compost in NYC throughout all the seasons which was very interesting. In the future, I would like to be part of the Summer STEM program at Cooper Union again and explore a different engineering course.”
Helen’s CAD drawing of a one bedroom apartment she visited.
Kenny, BEAM Summer Away 2020 Los Angeles
This summer, Kenny participated in MathPath, a four-week enrichment program for middle school students who show high interest and promise in mathematics. Courses include math history, combinatorics, graph theory, and more. Here’s what Kenny told us about his experience at MathPath:
Kenny is a ninth-grader in Los Angeles.
“For the math part of the program, we had problems that challenged us and made us think really hard about how to solve them. Sometimes it took more than that. We did a lot of probability and thought about how many ways could a certain event take place. My favorite part had to be the moments when classmates helped each other out to solve one problem. We all took turns and disagreed respectfully. I enjoyed working with them since I heard many ideas and had fun while talking. BEAM helped me get ready for MathPath by teaching me the skills that I would need to better understand the math problems.”
Rubi, BEAM Summer Away 2019 Los Angeles
She spent 12 weeks with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Talented Youth, learning about many different facets of Forensics, from its history to its current application. Rubi wrote to us about the most interesting project she worked on:
Rubi is a tenth-grader in Los Angeles.
“The class for Introduction to Forensics was challenging but it was also fun. I had a great time learning about the wide variety of topics in the class. The most interesting thing we did, in my opinion, was determining blood types. We were given sample blood types with liquids that could be used to change the color of the blood so we could determine what type the blood was. The way BEAM helped me get ready for this class was by giving me access to the materials I needed. They bought the materials, including a microscope, forensics pack, and books, without hesitation.”