The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Summer Science Camp offers a five-week summer program at the RIT campus and subsequent Saturday seminars to extend, enrich and infuse the summer program's concepts to 50 minority 6th, 7th, and 8th graders with demonstrated aptitudes for mathematics and science. Fifty mentors, volunteers from Eastman Kodak Company, join parents for a parenting skills/career counseling seminar. Students, parents, and mentors come together to assist program staff in attaining the primary goal of guiding students toward high technology careers. The SSC campus experience provides core discipline courses in mathematics, the sciences, engineering, technology and communications. Through a multidisciplinary approach with risk-taking, creative thinking, problem solving, decision making and goal setting, the program builds student self-confidence, self-esteem, and motivation for academic excellence. A major research project is required. Unique features of the SSC's integrated curriculum include teaching concepts on a need-to-know basis, which tailors the mathematics content to meet the needs of the sciences, and in turn, supports the engineering courses. Concept reinforcement occurs through field trips and student-mentor interaction.
