BUTTE — I’m too stupid to be messing with a hammer and anvil, but Montana Tech’s metallurgy and materials department is hosting a summer camp for high school kids so they can safely learn how to use this really cool stuff and consider going into engineering. And right now, these kids are already having a pretty good time.
“Well, first, fire is always fun to play with and just making your own thing out of glass is a really unique thing to do,” said Roundup senior Jessie Graham.
Thirty students from around the state and the country are learning about metallurgy and participating in hands-on activities in the lab.
“It’s a whirlwind tour, so just kind of giving them examples of what they can do in the field and how cool everything is, how hands-on, especially here at Montana Tech,” said camp organizer Teagan Leitzke.
One activity included making decorative beads using colored glass and high heat.
“There’s a lot of science in art and there’s a lot of that, especially in the materials world, there’s a big overlap between sort of the arts and engineering in this world,” said camp organizer Grant Wallace.
Ronan junior Sequoia Niemeyer added, “I’ve learned so much after coming to this camp. It really is something other people should do and explore.”
Organizers of the camp hope it will recruit more students to come to Montana Tech—and it may be working.
“It was tied between Bozeman, MSU, and here, and this course, well, it kind of makes me want to go here,” said Graham.
