Yuma School District One STEMKAMP ends with Family Day showcase

A week of STEM lessons at Ron Watson Middle School ended July 10 with Family Day and a Pathways to Possibilities Expo that put local businesses, military organizations and higher education partners in front of Yuma School District One students. The showcase gave families a look at how the district is trying to turn early science exposure into a pipeline for future jobs in fields tied to Yuma County’s economy and military presence.

Amanda Norton, STEMKAMP director, called the program “a science enrichment camp” and said it is “a weeklong camp for incoming third through eighth grade students in Yuma School District One.” Norton also said, “This is our fourth year doing it.” The camp ran July 6 through July 10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ron Watson Middle School, 9851 E. 28th Street in Yuma.

STEMKAMP’s Family Day format matters because it is built to bring parents and guardians into the learning instead of keeping the week behind classroom doors. Families saw the projects their children finished, then moved into the Pathways to Possibilities Expo, where employers and education partners framed STEM as more than a set of school subjects. The message was practical: the same skills used in camp can lead toward engineering, health care, agriculture technology and defense-related work.

The program itself reaches beyond Yuma. STEMKAMP describes itself as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit that was originally funded by the U.S. Department of Defense STEM program from 2021 to 2024. In 2024, it was invited to join a consortium through the Defense STEM Education Consortium, and the program now operates in 10 states. In Yuma, that national footprint is landing in a district that says it is the largest elementary school district in Yuma County, with nearly 9,000 kindergarten through eighth grade students and more than 1,300 employees.

The district’s own STEM resources page says one of its goals is increasing math and science achievement for students in grades three through eight. That makes STEMKAMP part of a larger effort, not a stand-alone summer activity, with the district using the break before the 2026-27 school year to keep students engaged. Ron Watson Middle School says the first day of school is Aug. 3.