This summer the Give Every Child a Chance Science Technology Electronics (STEM) program visited summer day camps at French Camp, Sequoia, Banta and Ripon Schools. 
Students received the opportunity to design and program their own video game through the program called Bloxels on iPads.  Using the Bloxels board, colored blocks, and creativity, students designed the main character of their video game and the environments, which are imported into the game by simply taking a picture of the Bloxel board and the colored blocks with an iPad. 
Another challenge the students received was to program the brains of the non-playable characters in their game. The objective is to have their game fully created by the end of the week so that other students have the opportunity to play each other’s game. The Banta site engineered and launched model rockets. Students built model rockets from scratch with the provided materials which were launched recently. The Banta students also learned about the basic science behind rocket launches as well as launch procedures, finding the appropriate setting, and other safety guidelines involved with launching rockets.
For the 2017-18 school year, the STEM program will be visiting the following schools during the after school program at two-week intervals: George Komure, Lincoln, River Islands, Golden West, Great Valley, Sequoia, French Camp, Lathrop, Ripon, August Knodt, Banta, Shasta, and Nile Garden, all students attending the after school program will participate.  STEM Programs will also be conducted at Veritas, McParland, Widmer and Brock Elliott for fourth and fifth graders.  Limited space will be available.  Sign-ups will be announced at a later date and taken on a first come basis.  This year programming will focus on building robotics and building an earthquake simulator using LEGO WeDo and Mindstorm EV3 Kits.  Also understanding and using 3D printers.
More information contact Colton Randall, STEM Coordinator at crandall@gecac.net