Limestone camp brings science to young girls

LIMESTONE – While some may think that girls don’t usually get along well with mathematics and science, it was hard to tell Thursday from the laughter, the quiet thinking and hands pumping as fifth- to eighth-graders arrived at conclusions to problems they were given.

It also helped that their teachers, people like “Mr. B,” “Thom” and others jostled their minds with possibilities and urgings about their need to grow up and take the places of male scientists in labs across the country and the world.

Fifty-four middle school girls from throughout the state were on the campus of northern Maine’s Maine School of Science and Mathematics at Limestone. They were taking part in “Nature and Numbers,” one of two one-week summer camps at the school.

One instructor said it might be the only such experience for middle school girls in Maine.

On a beautiful summer day, they were inside and outside the building, taking classes in science and technology and studying the physical sciences, chemistry, physics, biology and math.

They were making kites, understanding what made them fly, creating rockets, blowing up hydrogen and oxygen balloons to understand combustion, making digital movies and attempting to understand optical illusions.

“Look at this video. There are no girls there,” “Mr. B,” Larry Berz, told his young scholars who were working on rockets. “That’s why you have to grow up and get there to take their places.

“These men [who seemed to be at a NASA site] are getting old and need to be replaced,” he said, urging them to become scientists.

Across the hallway, John Giblin, a 1999 graduate of MSSM and a doctoral student in physics at Brown University was helping his young female students understand combustion “as in an engine,” one young girl piped up.

He urged them on, talking of oxygen and hydrogen and then setting up a Brown University laboratory experiment for them to understand the link between the two gases and their use in combustion.

Soon, small explosions rocked the room as the girls ignited concentrations of the gases. The more oxygen the concentration included, the louder the explosion.

“Fun, huh,” he said as the girls reacted to the louder and louder explosions.

“It’s very magical, this camp,” Giblin said after class. “These girls transform over the week.

“Some come here with an attitude,” he said, because some attend at the urging of parents and teachers. “By the time they leave at week’s end, they realize that they are capable of understanding and working with science and mathematics.”

Beth Moore, an 11-year-old sixth-grader from Jay, agreed.

“I came because of family influence, but also because it looked cool,” she said. “I didn’t know what to expect, but it’s a fun camp.

“Today we were dissecting a rat,” she said over lunch. “I like doing rats.” She also likes the extracurricular activities such as riding horses, swimming and having fun. She said she would be talking to other girls to attend next year.

The camp, which started in 1997, is held for both boys and girls. The two camps are separate and held at different times. There are two weeks for boys, in early July, followed by two separate camps for girls.

Participants live in dorms and are supervised by mentors and instructors, many of whom are graduates or students at MSSM. There are no special requirements or grades to attend, but most seem to be very bright.

Some attend at the urging of parents or their hometown teachers and some attend to explore the school they may want to attend in a few years. The camp costs $420 for the week, but scholarships are available.

“This is good for students, but also for our instructors,” said Deborah McGann, assistant director of the camp. “It’s a great opportunity for the mentors as well, a chance for growth.”

“We treat them as individuals, people and good students,” Giblin said of the annual experience. “In the end, it makes us feel as if we’ve made a difference.

“The girls are wonderful and hardworking, affecting their own change,” he said of their transformation over six days. “We want to make the experience available to all girls.”