Building Skills, Character, and Community at the 2025 STEM Summer Camp

From July 28 to August 1, 2025, a unique summer experience brought together innovation, education, and fun in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. The Future Camp: Skills For Success Summer camp was a powerful collaboration between Nanan STEM Academy, Holy Trinity Catholic School Division, Kim’s Taekwondo Moose Jaw, and Skills Canada Saskatchewan, uniting their shared goal of equipping youth with the skills they need to thrive in tomorrow’s world. This event was featured in Moose Jaw Today news.

The theme of this year’s summer camp experiments was Green Energy. Students explored wind and solar energy through hands-on projects. They built working windmills, cooked snacks using homemade solar cookers, and investigated hydro energy by testing how natural forces can power devices.

Students were grouped together to design and build a 3D model of downtown Moose Jaw, complete with integrated LED lighting to bring their miniature city to life. Using TinkerCAD, they began designing buildings with attention to detail and then 3D-printed the models. This capstone project provided the perfect backdrop for applying key math concepts.

To strengthen teamwork, students joined a Minecraft multiplayer survival challenge. The mission: collaborate and survive together. This fun-filled exercise demonstrated the value of communication, collaboration, and leadership.

Students built foundational skills in electronics and circuitry. They began with the basics—lighting up LEDs using potatoes and lemons in an engaging electrochemistry experiment.

Then, they levelled up:

• Micro:bit programming for younger students, who coded blinking LEDs using block-based coding.
• Arduino C++ programming for experienced students, who built breadboard circuits and learned about voltage, resistance, and current.
• Soldering workshops gave students hands-on practice connecting wires, a skill they applied to bring light to their model buildings.

Robotics sessions included programming the Edison Educational Robots, which taught students logical sequencing and problem-solving. Students also enjoyed experimenting with the Unitree Go2 AIR robotic dog, learning about autonomous and remote-controlled movement. An aerial video was captured using a DJI Mini 4 Pro drone.

In partnership with Kim’s Taekwondo Moose Jaw, students participated in physical training sessions at the Dojang. These sessions focused not only on physical activity, but also on core values such as integrity, respect, and leadership, which connect deeply with the values we nurture through STEM education.

We were honoured to welcome guest speakers. Na Wang, a former Skills Canada competitor in Cloud Computing and Game Development, who spoke about teamwork and career paths in STEM. Kari Heggie, Lead Competition Coordinator of Skills Canada Saskatchewan, shared stories about the importance of skilled trades and technology careers. Krystal Nieckar, Director of Skills Canada Saskatchewan, gave an inspiring talk about Skills Competitions.

At Nanan STEM Academy, our purpose is clear — To prepare students with essential skills for success. This week showed how learning can be exciting and hands-on.