STEAM Camp
Jump-start your imagination.
Mercersburg Summer STEAM Camp takes students to the front lines of the Maker Revolution as they learn by doing. Engineering, programming, 3D printing, textiles, and metal fabrication are all featured in this immersion into the essentials of Making in the 21st century. Mercersburg Summer’s STEAM program will focus on collaborative learning in the academic disciplines of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.
Students will jump into the creative process by taking their own idea and turning it into a creation made by their hands. Students will be given challenges designed to provoke creative thinking and problem solving. Through the important process of design, development, testing, and troubleshooting, students will learn resilience and self-confidence. By the end of the camp, we want to promote a new growth mindset in our young students—one that sees challenges as opportunities and ideas as potential realities.
Meet the Director
With a career spanning nearly two decades in educational camps and robotics, DJ Weymuth joined the Mercersburg Academy mathematics faculty at the start of the 2023-2024 academic year. His professional journey began at Camp Cody in Ossipee, NH, where he developed a passion for summer camps. Later, with his wife Jeanette, he founded a unique travel adventure camp in Bethesda, MD, that engaged students from across the country in a variety of outdoor activities and fostered a love for adventure and exploration.
DJ transitioned into the world of summer robotics by taking the helm of an outdoor summer camp program in Indianapolis, IN. His expertise in the field was recognized by prestigious institutions such as Stanford and Purdue universities, where he directed their idTech camps, shaping the minds of young tech enthusiasts. His subsequent tenure at Camp Wildwood in Bridgton, ME, marked a significant chapter in his career: as head counselor for two years, he played a pivotal role in the camp’s success, nurturing campers with his guidance and mentorship.
The transition from summer robotics work to year-round robotics team development marked a new era in DJ’s career, as he led two world-class robotics programs that garnered numerous awards over 13 seasons. His dedication to robotics and education continues to inspire students and educators alike.
Program Overview
The STEAM program has been designed to give younger students a glimpse into the kinds of work that seniors at Mercersburg Academy complete during the senior capstone Springboard experience. Springboard is Mercersburg’s one-year capstone program that features course options such as Rapid Application Development, 3D Design, The Global Food Chain, Entrepreneurship, and Maker’s Lab. Drawing on the ideas of Challenge-Based Learning, all students are required to delve into a challenge or project that they define and create. Though on a smaller scale, the Summer STEAM campers will learn via the same model as Mercersburg’s seniors.
Dates:
June 15-19, 2025
Open To:
Ages 10-15, coed
Early-Bird Tuition (until 2/16/25):
$765 (commuter)
$865 (residential)
A Typical Day
8-8:30 a.m.
Breakfast
9-11:30 a.m.
Work stations
12-12:45 p.m.
Lunch
1-4 p.m.
Work stations
4:15-5:15 p.m.
Supervised free time
5:30-6:15 p.m.
Dinner
6:30-9 p.m.
Evening activity (pool party, movie night, ice cream social, games, etc.)
9:15-10 p.m.
Dorm and Lights Out