They launched rockets in Palmer Field on the University of Michigan campus, made and programmed robots, and dissolved Cheerios in hydrochloric acid. 

It was a busy week for 30 Lincoln Middle School students who were involved in InnoWorks, a camp designed to give underprivileged youth a chance to learn more about science with the help of college-age mentors and staff.

Last week marked the second year for the Ann Arbor chapter of InnoWorks, which is part of a national program that began in 2003 and has grown from 11 students who attended the first year.

InnoWorks is free for participants, who are first nominated by the school’s administration. The InnoWorks volunteers then choose the final participants by going over their applications and essays. Students are chosen from different schools each year.

The theme for this year’s camp was “Explorations.” 

“We talked about underwater, sea, the ocean - all the way up to space, meteors and then rockets. There’s some biology in there someplace,” said Hans Yadav, a University of Michigan student and InnoWorks staff member.

The biology portion was the exploration of the human body, and included such activities as making a replica of the human arm using straws, clay, tape, and rubber bands. That proved to be popular with many participants.

“We gave our mentor an illness, and we described what she had,” said Paris Daykin, 14, describing her favorite activity at the camp.

“I like that we did the water transport thing. You had to, like, travel it 8 feet,” said Sarah Rogowski, 13, of her favorite activity. 

Rogowski’s team won third place overall at the award ceremony on Friday. The ceremony followed a speech given by Tiffany Ofili, a five-time University of Michigan NCAA hurdle National Champion and pharmacy student.

Freda Peterson said her daughter, Jada, loved the experience. 

“Every day she came home telling us she liked it, telling us what she learned,” Peterson said.

Eric Zhao, executive director of the Ann Arbor chapter of InnoWorks and a second-year pharmacy student, has plans for expanding the program.

“This year, we are planning on setting up a one-student, one-mentor program throughout the year where a college student will be paired up with a student to present a science fair project. Another initiative in the works is an after school mentorship program,” said Zhao.

Photos by Lon Horwedel, AnnArbor.com:
Photo 1: Lincoln Middle School eighth-grader Ryan Montgomery gets help building his Lego robot from University of Michigan senior Caitlyn Klaska during InnoWorks Summer Camp titled "Explorations".
Photo 2: Lincoln Middle School eighth grader MinJarro Johnson gets help building his Lego robot from University of Michigan student mentor Nathan Hamilton.

Ann Dwyer is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. Reach our news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.