For the past month, high school juniors and seniors arrived at Benton hall to learn engineering design as they program and build robots.

Through Miami’s Summer Scholars program, high school students have been able to come to Miami’s campus in two two-week sessions, one running from July 1st through July 13th and the second starting July 15th until July 27th.

Summer Scholar students testing their robot           

These students have had the opportunity to be instructed by James Leonard, adjunct professor in the electrical and computer engineering department, and were able to practice their coding and robotics skills. These rising 11th and 12th graders further learned if they will like to pursue engineering when they attend college through this program.

These students slept in the dorms and ate at dining halls during their time here, understanding what it is like to live on a college campus. In addition, students attended workshops  like “College Life 101” and “College Study Skills and Success” that will help them prepare for college.

Although students learned a lot about college, they spent most of their time working on their robot projects.

At the end of their two-week session, student groups had their robots travel across the floor and turn, based on a code they wrote. At the same time, the robot would signal all of its actions with LED lights.

Other session topics occurring during the two weeks included design thinking, business, and fashion.

To learn more about the Summer Scholars Program visit the program’s webpage.

By Maggie Cavanaugh, CEC Reporter