West Bend, WI – Camp Invention, hosted at St. John’s Lutheran School, 899 S. Sixth Avenue, in West Bend, Wi in June 2023, was an action-packed program.
There were 76 children from West Bend and surrounding communities in grades 1st-6th collaborating with friends to take on fun, hands-on STEM challenges, from building a mini skate park and planning a celebration to launching a pop-up shop and transforming a robot into a stuffie.
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Each experience inspired creativity and boosted their confidence.
Our amazing team of leaders included Director Marcia Milam, Assistant Director Leah Mussell, Instructors Sarah Schultz, Craig Toerpe, Krista Radewahh, Jackie Drover, and Melisa Gmirek. We also had parent volunteers – Danielle Steger, Katie Bauer, Cassy Behrent, and Laura LaPoint.
Our 8 high school leadership interns and 12 junior high leaders-in-training helped our campers to have a lot of fun, feel loved and appreciated, and kept the energy going all week long.
Our most exciting news for the week was a visit from National Inventors Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Iver Anderson – who invented lead-free solder (for a safer environment) which is used in many devices we use today.
Click HERE to read more about Hall of Fame inductee Dr. Iver Anderson
He is the senior metallurgist at Ames Laboratory in Ames, Iowa and came all the way to Wisconsin just to visit us.
He is a great uncle to one of our St. John’s students, and he made a special visit to our camp. He was specially hosted by NIHF’s donor relations team member Olivia Wakeling, who traveled from Canton, OH – National Inventor Hall of Fame headquarters.
Dr. Anderson visited each classroom, talked to our students about the importance of taking care of each other by caring for our earth, thinking about problems we need to solve and creating solutions to our problems.
In his 48 years of being a metallurgist/engineer, he has created 52 patents and continues to work with his team to create more solutions to help our children and their future generations.
His visit by far was our most memorable moment in all the years we have hosted camp.
We would love to see our 1st-6th graders next summer – June 17-21, 2024.
If you are interested, you can pre-register now for exclusive savings. Visit invent.org/camp2024 – use promo code CAMP2024 and save $50 on your registration fee. Blessings on your summer.
