Beacon Engineering Academy
The 2025 camp for current 10th – 11th graders will be held on June 22 – 28, 2025.
Applications will close on May 4.
About
The Beacon Engineering Academy is a one week summer camp experience for high school students to learn about engineering! During the camp, you will work with engineering faculty to learn about different engineering disciplines and tackle an engineering project.
We are offering an overnight camp experience (June 22 – 28) and day camp experience (June 23 – 27). During the day (8 am – 5 pm), campers will participate in engineering activities! In the evenings are an opportunity for campers to socialize with the camp counselors who are undergraduate engineers and get the full camp experience. The cost for the overnight camp is $800, and the cost for the day camp is $400.
Who teaches the program?
Valpo prides itself in the opportunities for undergraduate students to work closely with their professors. We extend this ideology to our summer camp where campers will learn directly from engineering professors!
There will also be a group of camp counselors composed of undergraduate engineering students from Valpo who will assist during the day and run the social activities!
What types of projects are offered?
The core of the camp is split into four components: Engineering Exploration, Engineering Skills, Week-Long Engineering Project, and Social Activities.
The Engineering Exploration activities provide students to explore a wide array of engineering topics including sustainable engineering, ultrasonic flow, water filtration, 3D printing, materials science, solar energy, and more!
The Engineering Skills activities provide an opportunity for students to develop relevant engineering skills such as computer aided design (CAD), programming, soldering, and more!
The Week-Long Engineering projects are large scale engineering projects where the campers will work in groups to tackle a challenging engineering problem. It will provide an opportunity for the campers to learn about a specific area of interest in engineering as they build their engineering device! The 2025 projects include:
- Prosthetics and Haptics: Learn about biomechanics and biosensors and how we can design and build prosthetic and haptic devices!
- Solar Powered Robotics: Learn about the mechanisms of robotics as you explore the areas of dynamics, electronics, and programming to build your own robots! Build a robot to efficiently capture the sun’s energy through sustainable engineering!
- Environmental Engineering: Learn about environmental engineering as you explore sustainable design to address pressing environmental challenges.
What can you expect day-to-day?
Though this is not the exact schedule for each day, this is roughly what you could expect as a camper. There are plenty of opportunities to explore interesting topics in engineering, work on your week-long engineering project, and socialize with your fellow campers and counselors!
| Timeline | Activity |
|---|---|
| 8:00 am | Breakfast and Morning Activity. Day campers arrive. |
| 8:30 am | Engineering Exploration and Skills Activities. 1 hour activities led by faculty for campers to learn about different areas of engineering! |
| 11:30 am | Lunch |
| 12:30 pm | Project work time. This time is dedicated to completing your week-long project. It will be split into time for lessons to learn the necessary skills to accomplish your project and work time. |
| 5:30 pm | Dinner and after hours activities for our overnight campers with the counselors! Day campers depart. |
Application
Eligibility
- The camp is open to current 10th and 11th graders
- Campers are encouraged to have completed physics or chemistry by the summer
How to apply
Applications can be submitted here. We will begin evaluating applications after January 15. Applications will close on May 4.
Scholarships
A limited number of partial scholarships are available for campers who meet one of the below criteria.
- The camper will be the first among their immediate family members to earn a degree from a 4-year college or university.
- The camper demonstrates financial need based on household income.
Contact Dr. Jesse Sestito by email at engineering.camp@valpo.edu to inquire.
Start and end times
Overnight Campers
The camp will run from Sunday, June 22 to Saturday, June 28 for overnight campers. Sunday camper drop-off is currently scheduled from 1 – 3 pm and Saturday camper pick-up is currently scheduled for 8 – 9 am. Individual drop-off and pick-up times can be adjusted for special cases.
Day Campers
The camp will run from Monday, June 23 to Friday, June 27 for day campers. Drop-off will be at about 8:30 am each day. Pick-up will be at about 5:30 pm each day.
Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding the camp, feel free to reach out to Dr. Jesse Sestito by email at engineering.camp@valpo.edu.