PLANO—
Just one look at Legos, and chances are you are flooded with childhood memories. Memories of days when all you needed was a little imagination and Legos to build a dream.For the last 15 years, thousands of North Texas children have been bringing their dreams to life at SMU's Lego technology camp.
"In Lego Mania, you build different things like pinwheels and birds that flip around. Battle bots is really good for the older kids. This is great it's like the highlight of the Summer," that's what Nick Azpiroz tells us.
18-year-old Azpiroz was a camper at SMU's Summer Youth Programs since he was in second grade, now he's a camp coach and college bound to Stanford.
"I can't imagine going through middle school and high school without having this every Summer."
The children range in ages from five to 14. They spend their days learning basic engineering skills, like coding and programming as well as building robots and cars.
"It's really fun to build the robots and then be able to challenge other people with your own robot that you built," says camper Ian Carson.
There are very few girls in the camps. In fact, many of sessions have a ratio of 20 -1. It's an issue SMU is trying to address and change with these camps.
"It's really a nationwide issue of females not being very present in those fields," says Paige Parrish, SMU's Associate Director of Youth and Teacher programs, says getting girls interested in science and technology early-on in life is key.
"Once they get their hands on the legos, it's a very connected firm experience."
It worked for 18-year-old Jessica Guevel. She's headed to Carnegie Melon University in the fall; this Summer she's a camp coach at Lego Technology.
"I loved building legos when I was little, so I figured it would be a great way to help other kids build legos. I'm also interested in studying engineering, so it goes along with building and creating," says Guevel.
But most importantly, camp coach Nick Azpiroz tells us this moment is less about science and more about fun.
"They don't have to say anything. They just smile and laugh."
