Summer STEM camp in South Lake Tahoe: Local youth build boats from scratch with help from MIT

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - The Tahoe STEM Academy and the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe (BGCLT) offered a wooden boat-building summer STEM camp for 5th-8th graders in August. As part of this camp, Tahoe STEM Academy partnered with the Edgerton Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and hosted MIT instructors, undergraduate students, and alumni to act as mentors and instructors for the members of BGCLT participating in the camp. This collaborative effort aimed to inspire and educate 5th-8th graders in the Lake Tahoe region through the art of boat-building and STEM exploration.

David Wise, founder of Tahoe STEM Academy and STHS graduate, was an active participant at the MIT Edgerton Center during his undergraduate career at MIT under the instruction of Ed Moriarty. Moriarty has been a technical instructor at MIT for over 20 years, engaging students across the globe in STEM through hands-on learning. Moriarty joined David Wise as one of the instructors for this camp, along with Adrian Tanner, Edgerton Center Alumni and Senior Mechanical Engineer at Multiply Labs.

This two-week camp focused on maritime engineering and naval architecture, with members learning a mix of traditional woodworking and boatbuilding techniques combined with modern digital fabrication methods. Participants fabricated the wood structures and hulls from scratch, then used fiberglass cloth and paint to finish and seal the boats. Over the course of the camp, three complete boats were fabricated by BGCLT members and successfully launched in Lake Tahoe.

The MIT Edgerton Center, founded in 1992, aims to expand hands-on learning at MIT and beyond, including K-12 STEM outreach programs and student clubs and teams, such as MIT Spokes. MIT Spokes is a student-governed organization where undergraduate students spend their summers biking across the country and offering STEM learning festivals free of charge to rural or underserved areas. The seven members of Spokes biked from Washington DC to San Francisco this summer. As part of their trip, they hosted a learning festival for members of the Boys & Girls Club focusing on structural and electrical engineering, as well as mentoring the members in building wooden boats.

Tahoe STEM Academy and BGCLT would also like to express their heartfelt gratitude to the Tahoe Maritime Foundation, MIT Edgerton Center, Ed Moriarty, Adrian Tanner, the members of MIT Spokes, and the Station House Inn. Thanks to a generous grant from the Tahoe Maritime Foundation, this camp was completely free of charge, ensuring accessibility to all interested students. Station House Inn provided accommodations for the members of MIT Spokes during their stay.

About Tahoe STEM Academy

Tahoe STEM Academy is a leader in the Lake Tahoe region dedicated to promoting hands-on STEM education through project-based learning and fostering a love for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics among students of all ages. For more information, visit https://www.tahoestemacademy.com/.