Mark Boykin lives just down the block from Marian University.
He drives by the school often and says he’s biked around campus “many times.” But last week, the rising junior at Purdue Polytechnic High School tried something new. He stayed on campus as a part of the E.S. Witchger School of Engineering’s INnovation Through Engineering Residential Summer Camp.
“It’s kind of strange because I can see my neighborhood from here,” Boykin, 15, said from the lobby of the Witchger Center on campus. “I’ve always come around these buildings before, but I’ve never been inside them.”
The camp opened up other firsts for the aspiring computer programmer, such as new experience with the programming language, C++. He now hopes to learn it and take it back to school with him in the fall along with some new crafting skills he picked up during a prosthetic hand design activity.
‘Not just math and equations’
Pattie Mathieu, assistant director of the camp, said one of the program’s goals is to expose high school students like Boykin to different types of engineering so they can explore potential career paths and find what about engineering appeals most to them.
Throughout the week-long camp, students hear from speakers, including Marian faculty and industry partners, and take trips to potential employers such as Allison Transmission and components manufacturer Marian Inc. They also get to try their hand at engineering projects.
Students learn how to create a prosthetic hand. Credit: Mikaela Helane for Mirror Indy 
Mason Cook, a Marian University student and an INnovation Through Engineering Residential Summer Camp counselor. Credit: Mikaela Helane for Mirror Indy 
Speedway High School student Orion Sceege works on building a bridge. Credit: Mikaela Helane for Mirror Indy
In one visit, a civil engineering group asked students to build their own straw towers then put them on a shake table to test their strength. In another activity, students created their own balsa wood bridges to be judged at the end of the week for their looks and how much weight they can support. Camp planners also built in time for fun with trips to Newfields and an Indiana Fever game.
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Ultimately, Mathieu said, she wants students to also see the creative side of engineering.
“When kids understand that it’s not just math and equations, that they actually get to access the creative part of their brain as well, they get so much more excited about engineering,” Mathieu said.
The camp accepts students entering the 10th through 12th grades, and Mathieu said representation is important. The camp looks to enroll a diverse array of students, with its 30 participants this year representing about two dozen high schools mostly from the central Indiana area. Half of the presenters who spoke to students were women, an underrepresented population in STEM, and 75% were minorities.
The camp costs $575 for the week — that includes housing, activity supplies and travel to site visits — but, Mathieu said, more than half of students this year attended with a scholarship.
Like the Witchger engineering school, the camp is relatively new. Students on campus last week were a part of the third iteration of the camp. After its first two summers, Mathieu said, the school has already seen several campers apply to attend Marian as college students.
‘Try everything’
Annika Kahle, a rising junior at Pike High School, came to the camp after her brother attended two years ago. She says it helped fuel her interest in STEM — a career field that runs in her family.
Her dad’s a software engineer, her mom’s a doctor and her brother plans to study genetics at Purdue University, but Kahle’s not sure yet what exactly she wants to do.
That’s what she likes about Marian’s camp. In just the first few days of camp, she’s been able to explore civil, mechanical and biomedical engineering. So far, she said, she’s liked learning about mechanical engineering and surveying most.
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But, she’s keeping her options open to trying new things and finding out what she likes best. That’s something her parents have taught her and something she encourages her classmates to think about, too.
“The worst that can happen is you don’t like something,” said Kahle, 16. “It can really open you up to things you might not have thought you would like before that you actually do. Just keep an open mind and try everything.”
Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.
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