By the time students enter college, lack of rigorous high school coursework can eliminate engineering as a potential career path [1] . Bradley University has developed new summer camp program designed to attract students to engineering and to interest students in taking high school courses needed to pursue engineering. The campers were members of underrepresented groups selected with the input of representatives from local public schools and industry. The purpose of the camp, sponsored by the

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... ciety of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation, was to introduce the campers to fundamental scientific and engineering principles, to basic manufacturing processes, and to the application of these principles through engineering analysis to predict the behavior of a physical system. The central theme for the camp was building a model rocket from manufactured components to "shoot a field goal" as the final activity. Campers engaged in the manufacture of the components and the study of basic principles (Newton's Laws of Motion, aerodynamic drag, thrust, weight, etc.) necessary for prediction of the flight path of the rocket. In preparing for the launch, each camper built and ground-tested a rocket. The campers used a Bradley University developed, PC based, rocket trajectory prediction program to determine the rocket launch location (distance from the goal) and the launch elevation angle prior to their launch. The predictions were based on measured values of rocket mass, engine thrust force, and rocket drag force. The camp staff included high school teachers, volunteer engineers from local industry, and engineering faculty. The pedagogical challenge in the design of the camp program was to develop an appreciation for engineering analysis and modeling in an audience that lacks the necessary mathematical sophistication. This paper reports on the development of the camp curriculum, recruitment techniques for underrepresented campers, interaction between high school instructors, professors and volunteer professionals, the manufacturing activities, the testing activities, the prediction software and the program successes. Personnel The BEST/STEPS camp brought together campers, counselors, engineering professionals and engineering faculty. The mix was a major factor in the success of the camp. The campers were divided into four groups, two male groups and two female groups. Each group had a samegendered counselor and a volunteer engineer. The groups rotated through the activities in the curriculum. Faculty members conducted between one and four activities each. The following sections discuss the makeup of each group. Campers Identifying interested, underrepresented high school campers was an important challenge for the camp. The target campers are generally from lower income families and are members of gender and racial groups that do not tend to pursue engineer as a career. For this first year of the BEST/STEPS program, the graduates of Destination Technology SM , a Caterpillar, Inc., sponsored math and science program for underrepresented 6 th though 8 th grade campers, provided an initial target group. The skill level of the camp was set based upon these campers abilities developed from their two or three years of participation with that program. Future camps will not have the luxury to completely rely on the Destination Technology SM to identify campers. Camp Counselors In order for the campers to learn the lessons from the faculty, the campers could not be distracted by unruliness, gang wear and talk, or social distractions. The task of the camp counselors was to eliminate these detractions and maintain the learning environment. The choice for counselors was therefore critical to everyone's enjoyment of the camp. The counselors were all public school teachers who had previously worked with the Destination Technology SM program. The counselors knew the campers and were able to separate campers with potential conflicts. Furthermore, the counselors could contact the parents of any difficult camper or in extreme cases expel the camper from the camp. Each counselor supervised ten or fewer campers and there were no serious problems. Professional Engineers Volunteer engineers from local industry, specifically Caterpillar, Inc., served as mentors for the camper groups as they moved through the week's activities. These mentors were predominantly young professionals from groups underrepresented in engineering: women and African-Americans. The mentors provided additional supervision to certain camp activities, such as machining, and also participated with the campers in the activities -5 mentors even built and decorated their own rockets. Though their impact cannot be easily measured, the mentors were an important factor in the success of the camp.