SAME Engineering & Construction Camps
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SAME/USAFA Engineering & Construction Camp

Seven days to inform, seven days to instill knowledge, seven days to inspire. That is the mission of the SAME/USAFA Engineering and Construction Camp. Sixty students from 29 U.S. states and as far away as Germany, Italy and Korea, joined with 12 mentors, seven cadets and a handful of staff members at the U.S.  Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The camp is designed to encourage the use of ingenuity and imagination by having students engineer and build various structures, including a balsa wood “I” beam. The creative minds of the campers engineered interesting and unusual solutions that would have impressed any seasoned professional. Fueled with eagerness and passion for problem solving, the students tackled each challenge with astounding results.

The winning design for the 17” balsa wood I-beam held an amazing 126-lb of central point load. “That’s how much I weigh!” one student exclaimed. In the wastewater filter project the winners produced a filter design that yielded a sample that surpassed the record set by civil engineering student teams from the Air Force Academy itself!

Other camp highlights included shed construction, a GPS scavenger hunt, a USAFA tour with a live in-class rocket demonstration, visits to prominent local architect-engineering firms, catapult construction, a tour of the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Cheyenne Mountain, and the now infamous reinforced concrete beam construction and testing, where the winning beam withstood more than 22,000-lb of loading.

SAME/Seabees Engineering & Construction Camp

Approximately 40 students from communities throughout the United States, the Pacific and Europe joined together for one week at the SAME/Seabees Engineering & Construction Camp at the Naval Base Ventura County, Port Hueneme, Calif., in July 2006.

During the one-week course, students participated in hands-on construction activities under the supervision and guidance of SAME Post members and U.S. Navy leaders.  Activities and instruction were centered around four major blocks of instruction: construction methods, construction materials, hydraulics and environmental engineering.

Students and mentors alike worked side-by-side on each hands-on activity including:

• designing, constructing and destructively testing a concrete cylinder;
• constructing a popsicle stick bridge;
• constructing a housing unit that was donated to a local Habitat for Humanity;
• constructing a functional cardboard boat, which was then tested in a fun-filled boat race.

In addition to education and hands-on work, campers had plenty of time to explore the sights and sounds of the local area, including hiking trips on the Oxnard Plain and a tour of the Seabees museum.

SAME/U.S. Army Engineering & Construction Camp

During the week-long SAME/U.S. Army Engineering & Construction Camp at the USACE Engineer Research Development Center in Vicksburg, Miss., students engaged in a variety of activities aimed at piquing their interest in engineering-related fields and building their self-confidence. Forty "crewmembers" were divided into four teams of 10. Each team was led by a "Pilot" and a "Firstmate," with one being male and the other female.
The teams took part in numerous activities including leadership and team building training, identifying a wetland using information on soils, vegetation and hydrology; performing GPS surveys; building bridges out of soda straws; and making concrete mats for flood control and for use to maintain channel alignment.

Additionally, campers enjoyed various tours to engineering facilities including the Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant, the Informational and Technology Lab and the Coastal and Hydraulics Lab, where instructors introduced them to the various workings of the labs and the equipment.