More than 200 middle school students from Yonkers and New York City boroughs spent time at Rensselaer this summer in two one-week residential sessions that included summer fun, an opportunity to do science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and a chance to experience college life.

The NYS STEM Summer Enrichment Program was designed to engage students, teachers, and parents in learning and applying principles related to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Approximately 51 teachers served as instructors. More than 15 parents served as program ambassadors, serving as a link to recruit and encourage their children and others to pursue study in the STEM fields.

“The goal of the program is to encourage participants to work together as partners to find ways to align problem solving with the application of the STEM fields in a fun and interactive way,” says Mark Smith, dean of students. “We believe that this serves as a great opportunity to engage students’ interests in these disciplines so they can succeed in these subjects through college and their future careers.”

“I have always been fascinated by engineers and I hope to become an engineer one day,” says Dayla Hamo, a seventh-grader from Yonkers. “This program gave me a chance to learn more about the field. Now I know what I have to focus on when I go back to school.”