Do you like a classic summer camp, one that offers new friendships, field trips, treasure hunts, and sweet treats? Or are you looking for the best that a science camp has to offer: laboratory visits, high-resolution microscopes, exotic live insects, and 3D printing?
Most summer day camps rely on some standard activities to entertain their attendees—indoor and outdoor games, crafts, field trips, and snacks. The middle school girls who attended Pollen Power camp at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) in mid-July enjoyed all these activities, but with some unique touches: plants and insects, fiber optics and lenses, microscopes and green screen recordings all played a big role in the camp’s agenda.
For many people, the word “pollen” evokes only the idea of a springtime allergenic nuisance. For one group of middle school girls, though, pollen is now a symbol of summertime fun and learning. Twenty-six girls from around East Central Illinois came to participate in Pollen Power!, a week-long science day camp hosted July 7-11 by the Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.
Nearly 30 girls attended the Institute for Genomic Biology’s weeklong summer camp that is devoted to the science of pollen
Middle school girls learned that pollen does a lot more than help flowers reproduce at Pollen Power Camp!, a weeklong summer camp hosted by the Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
