Over the summer 2018, RCEL created and launched the Rice “Emerging Leaders in Technology & Engineering” (ELITE) summer camp as a premier pre-college engineering program for high school students, with a unique focus on preparing young people to become future leaders in technology and engineering. The Rice ELITE Camp offered an experience based on the curricular model of the RCEL undergraduate certificate program. In addition to a focus on leadership and teamwork skills, the camp included three technical tracks to engage students in rigorous science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) learning activities.
Students participated in a variety of lecture sessions, field trips, and design challenges that reinforced core education standards and content areas. Through a series of intensive project-based experiences and hands-on engineering exercises, students practiced applying the engineering design process to solve real world problems. The technical tracks introduced students to cutting edge advances in augmented/virtual reality, autonomous vehicles, and 3-D printing and modeling. Formalized communication training helped the teams develop a persuasive presentation to articulate a complex project concept to a diverse audience of faculty, staff, students, parents, and guests.
“My child totally enjoyed ELITE, including visiting the professors’ labs and working with faculty. He thought programming the electric car was cool, and learned a valuable skill-set in working within a group of his peers. Applying all the lessons to a marketing strategy for a business was enlightening!” – ELITE Parent Testimonial
