The free camp has a limit of 120 students, and runs during the day Tuesday through Thursday. On Tuesday morning, the students moved around from station to station, learning about science, physics and technology.
“I just really like STEM,’' said Soule Road sixth-grader Andrew Mazza. “This is a great new opportunity, and I can show my colors and get to do what I like. I like the science that’s behind it all,” he said.
The chip campis a small part of Micron’s pledge to spend $10 million in local schools as it looks to build a computer chip manufacturing complex in Clay. Micron says it will add up to 9,000 jobs over two decades at the complex. Micron spent $40,000 on the three-day Liverpool camp.
Mazza and the other students – all in sixth, seventh and eighth grades – took part in a variety of STEM-related activities led by Micron on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they will travel to Cornell University and glimpse its “clean room,” a highly controlled environment that’s critical to prevent contamination when making items such as computer chips. There, they’ll see how companies like Micron make chips, which make most electronics, cars and other modern appliances work.
On Thursday, they will launch rockets outside and invite parents to see what the camps are all about.
Tuesday morning, students moved around from station to station in the school cafeteria. At one station, they used whipped cream and dye to see how colors transfer onto paper, said Liz Clifford, a Syracuse University graduate student helping with the camp.
Other stations showed how pigment from small crushed beetles becomes red dye, how physics come into play when trying to swing a ring onto a hook, and how water transitions into a gas state.
“The experiments are really cool,” said John Moran, a sxith-grader. “And I like getting to be at the first chip camp here.”
Tamera Jones, another sixth-grader, said she’s looking forward to learning about science and technology. She learned about sublimation, which is the transition of a substance directly from a solid state to a gas state.
Robert Simmons, who is Micron’s head of social impact and STEM programs, said he’s thrilled to be part of the first chip camp in Onondaga County.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “The kids are all excited and enthused, and they are learning to be future innovators using STEM skills. It’s great to see how engaged they all are.”
Micron’s $10 million pledge pales in comparison to the proposed tax breaks it’s expected to get for investing in Onondaga County. Micron would also save nearly $284 million under a proposed 49-year property tax deal with Onondaga County in exchange for building a 100 billion computer chip plant in Clay. That includes millions of dollars in savings on school taxes.
More chip camps are coming. A chip camp in the North Syracuse school district will be held June 27-29. Another one will be held at Onondaga Community College July 11-13. That camp will be for students from the Onondaga Nation, Syracuse City schools, East Syracuse Minoa and BOCES.
Micron also is sponsoring Girls Gone Tech series this summer to inspire girls’ interest in STEM and STEM-related careers. Details on that are still being finalized.
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