Connecting with Code

Rose-Hulman Summer Programming Camp

The 2025 CWC camp face-to-face on-campus registration will open in March (probably the 10th if it is setup in time).

Connecting with Code is a paid face-to-face camp which costs $150 for the 5 days (15 hours total) to families that support the program at that cost. There are also scholarships available if you would like to apply to join the on campus version, but have financial need. -OR- if you would prefer, the camp material is also FREELY available via videos that you can use from your own home whenever you have time. The videos can be found using the links in the upper right hand corner of this page. The material is the same in the videos and the in-person camp. Registration below is only required for people joining the face-to-face version of the camp.

Newer to Coding / Younger Camp

Introduction to Scratch Coding

July 28th - August 1st (2025) 9am to 12:00pm

This camp is geared toward kids with little to no programming experience, open to any age that is ready to start learning about code. The material is designed to be welcoming for a 1st-3rd grade audience, but anyone with little coding experience is encouraged to join. We will divide groups by age and have students anywhere from K-8 join (High School students are welcome, but to be honest none join and your student might feel out of place). You can join the paid face-to-face version of the camp, or do the free online material at home on your own using the links above (top right). 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).

The Scratch Face-to-face camp is not yet open. When registration opens (it is NOT open yet), this will be the link...
Register for On-Campus Scratch 9am-Noon

Click the button above, then select Summer Program, then choose Connecting with Code,... View category to find the registration form.

Advanced / Experienced / Older Camp

Introduction to Tinkercad Coding

July 28th - August 1st (2025) 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-8th grade audience, but anyone with some prior coding experience is encouraged to join. Again there is a free online version do yourself, or there is a paid face-to-face camp. In both versions we will be teaching students the same material.

When registration opens for the face-to-face camp (it is NOT open yet), this will be the link...
Register for On-Campus Tinkercad 1pm-4pm

Click the button above, then select Summer Program, then choose Connecting with Code,... View category to find the registration form.

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

What is the camp like?

A few more details

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 more advanced material (some years Tinkercad, some years Tinkercad, 2025 is a Tinkercad year) 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.

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