TAKE A LOOK — Arceneaux Wilson & Cole hosts ‘STEM’ulating summer camp
Published 12:36 am Saturday, July 1, 2023
Jacob Powell, 9, left, and Brody LeBlanc, 7, react as their paper cup tower falls during a STEM summer camp at Arceneaux Wilson & Cole. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Ella–Kate Graffagnino, 4, and Maddi Graffagnino, 12, discuss their STEM project during a STEM summer camp at Arceneaux Wilson & Cole. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Olivia LeBlanc, 9, left, and Olivia Cole, 10, work on the paper cup tower. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Gabriel Fowel, 10, explains why his paper cup tower is sturdy. (Mary Meaux/The News)
Caley Chichester, engineering intern with Arceneaux Wilson & Cole, right, gives instructions for a STEM activity Friday. (Mary Meaux/The News)
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When 10-year-old Gabriel Fowel was building his paper cup tower he opted to begin with a base featuring layers for structural integrity.
“With deeper layers there’s less resistance,” Fowel said shortly before a few of the small cups fell. “When they fell it was very easy to repair.”
Fowel was one of 20 children ages 4 to 12 that took part in the Arceneaux Wilson & Cole Summer STEM Camp for children and grandchildren of the firm’s employees.
Ron Arceneaux, manager and corporate secretary, said the planned activities stimulate the children’s minds and help with problem solving.
While the pilot summer camp is just for family of employees, he hopes to expand it to the general public if successful
Engineering intern Caley Chichester said the idea for the camp came from being around the family friendly firm.
She figured with school out, the kids are probably bored and wondered how to incorporate activities with STEM work.
Chichester was a peer tutor while at Port Neches-Groves High School and took part in a lot of STEM related activities, she said.
“The teacher that I was under really wanted to accentuate the STEM parts, so a bunch of these experiments are from there,” Chichester said.
Some of the activities included creating the longest paper chair out of a single piece of paper and tape, building the tallest tower out of paper cups and building a home with materials such as popsicle sticks and empty toilet paper rolls.
While the children were having fun with the activities they were also learning skills such as resource management and structural integrity.
Chichester explained the paper chain activity.
“Some paper chains were like six inches. The other one, I think, was one that was 32 inches out of the same materials,” she said. “It’s real fun to watch them just be creative and figure out different ideas.”
