Connecting with Code

Rose-Hulman Summer Programming Camp

The 2024 CWC camp face-to-face on-campus registration will open in March.

Connecting with Code is both a free online camp (using videos) and a paid face-to-face camp ($150 for the 5 days). You should register for the version that is right for you. The material is the same and the dates are the same (June 3rd - June 7th in 2024).

There are also scholarships available if you would like to apply to join the on campus version, but have financial need.

Two camp types:

Option #1: Freely Available Online Videos

The online version takes place in your home. You register (for free) to get added to the online camp mailing list. The camp consists of videos that you receive by email each camp day with a follow along Scratch or Python coding program.

Option #2: Face-to-Face On Campus Camp

The 2024 Face-to-face camp is now full.
You can still join the online version for free though.

The face-to-face version takes place on Rose-Hulman campus with Rose-Hulman faculty, staff, and students helping to get your son or daughter interested in software development. Each camp is 3 hours per day, lasting for 1 week (Monday-Friday). The younger students / less experienced coders learn Scratch and meet 9am-noon and the middle school students / more experienced coders learn Python and meet 1pm-4pm each weekday. The material in the face-to-face camp is the same material as the online camp. We don't use videos though, we do a live presentation of the material in the first 90 minutes, then spend the next 90 minutes (after a short snack break) doing self-selected enhancements to the code with Rose-Hulman student mentors helping to guide your child's progress. Students in the paid face-to-face camp will receive a free t-shirt to help them remember their time working with faculty and students from Rose-Hulman. Details on the room and drop-off instructions will be sent to those that join.

We look forward to coding with you this summer. Register below for the camp that is right for you! Again there are also scholarships available if you would like to join the face-to-face on campus version, but have financial need.

Two camp levels:

Newer to Coding / Younger Camp

Introduction to Scratch Coding

June 3rd - June 7th (2024) 9am to 12:00pm

This camp is geared toward kids with no programming experience of any age. The material is designed to be welcoming for a K-3rd grade audience, but anyone without coding experience is encouraged to join. We will divide groups by age and even a High School student that is new to coding is welcome to join. You can join the paid face-to-face version of the camp, or do the free online material at home on your own. We do the same material, but in the face-to-face version we help students extend their projects. For the free online version we expect parents will need to help some of our younger campers (often ages 7 and under need help).

Register for the Free Online Version

The Scratch Face-to-face camp is now full. You can still join the online version for free though.

Advanced / Experienced / Older Camp

Introduction to Python Coding

June 3rd - June 7th (2024) 1pm to 4pm

This camp is targeted at kids with prior programming experience that are looking to move beyond Scratch (potentially you've used Scratch for years and you are ready for the next big step in your coding). The material is designed to be welcoming for a 5th-10th grade audience, but anyone with prior coding experience is encouraged to join. Again there is a free online version that you can sign up for and do yourself, or there is a paid face-to-face camp. In both versions we will be teaching students to do text based programming (not Scratch blocks) using Python. We will use a library called Python Play which is a great intro to Python graphics library. Warning: You will type A LOT, so be comfortable with typing. :)

Register for this camp - Free Online Registration

The Python Face-to-face camp is now full. You can still join the online version for free though.

If you have multiple children, or want to join multiple camps, just complete the appropriate form multiple times.

For the free online camp, information will be emailed to you and available via the 2024 camp page (once it starts). If you want to see more about what our camp is like you can still visit the 2023 camp page, 2022 camp page, 2021 camp page, or 2020 camp page.

Partnership

The material for these camps was developing as a partnership between:

It's more fun to code as a team! We practice this idea when we make material too!

Mission statement

The mission of the Connecting with Code camp is centerred around three main pillars:

Mindset, Mentorship, and Fun!

We are fully confident that young people will experience opportunities to code in their lives. We want to make sure that when that day comes they say to themselves "I know coding. This is something I might want to do. I can totally do this." To get to that point we have this camp with knowledgable Rose-Hulman students mentors available to help make sure their first experience is a positive (instead of scary) start to programming. Addtionally, we try to get young people excited about code and help get them connected with online programming resources that they can continue to use beyond the week of the camp. There is a whole big world of programming resources already online.

Our program would like to also extend a special invitation to women and other underrepresented minorities to start learning about code. As mentioned by the National Girls Collaborative Project, August 2016, 74% of girls express an interest in STEM in middle school, but by high school only 0.4% of girls plan to major in Computer Science in college. We would love to see more women and more underrepresented minorities in our Computer Science / Software Engineering classes at Rose-Hulman one day! We welcome everyone, of course, but would love to see change happen in our culture to more evenly balance the gender and diversity gap in computer science. Come be part of the change! Learn more online about how you can provide CS opportunities for students, for example visit: Code with Google