Middle School Science Camps ( Ages 12-14)

The Sternberg Museum Science Camp programs are built around a core philosophy of student development, advancement, and supportive peer community. We train our students with dedicated lessons and by example, giving them new tools and knowledge to use as they pursue their goals. To paraphrase many of our past students, it will be the most challenging, amazingly fun thing you’ve done!

Supportive Peer Community
Our staff goes above and beyond to foster safe, inclusive learning communities built to help our students have fun while they learn and grow with like-minded peers from across the country (and increasingly from around the world)!. We believe in the importance of building a trusting, fun atmosphere to help our students pursue their fascinations with earth and life science topics and content to their full potential while learning the ins and outs of being a young aspiring professional. 

Active Hands-on Learning
Our staff implement engaging learning games and problem-solving challenges, guiding our students as they learn to consider and connect their knowledge in a comprehensive fashion. We use active teaching methods to help students learn how to skillfully use the knowledge they acquire in lessons and discussions. Our learning activities, be they in the lab, classroom, field, or museum, focus on student collaboration and developing critical thinking, all while keeping things fun and interactive.  

Fun
We are program built for science geeks, by science geeks. We love spending time in the field or in the lab, and want to make sure our students see that while science can be hard work, it’s also a ton of fun. Networking and peer-group-building are also immensely important for us, as such connections are crucial for any aspiring future professional. We strive to keep the work of field, lab, and classroom science balanced with a healthy dose of laughter!

Skill-Building
Having a core set of useful skills can be incredibly valuable for students looking to advance their opportunities in the natural sciences. By introducing and developing these essential skills, we train our students to be prepared for egaging in science beyond the classroom. Skill-centered lessons will look different from age group to age group and camp to camp. Please see the camp descriptions for more details.

Empowerment
Using active learning techniques, we guide our students to think about science beyond raw facts and figures. In our field-based camps, our students are taught to safely and responsibly carry out our field tasks in a variety of favorable and adverse conditions. In doing this, students discover their own strengths and capabilities. In our virtual camps, we exchange field tasks for games, puzzles, and team challenge projects. In each type of program, students are uniquely trained to take on future academic and interpersonal activities. 

“This camp experience provided many “firsts” for me. I had never camped in a tent before; I had never been away from family for that length of time; and I learned that given a significant purpose, I had endurance beyond my belief. It was definitely the highlight of my year.” – Alex Landwehr, Sternberg Camps alumni

Advanced Academics
We introduce our students to foundational concepts in earth and life sciences to start out our programs. From the Law of Superposition to the population basis for evolution by natural selection, students are set up to learn content quickly as we build understanding through observations and focused discussions. Our staff are broadly trained in the topics of their respective camps, and are excited to engage with student questions. We use research-backed teaching strategies to make advanced content engaging, accessible, and fun!

(Updated 1/7/2025)

Since returning to in-person programs in 2021, our programs have had a perfect record of 0 in-camp transmission COVID19 cases. On tops of this we've had less that a half-dozen incidents of students or staff getting sick in any way while at camp over the last ten years. We attribute this to our stringent mitigation protocols as well as the diligence of our campers and their families. Please contact Camps Director David Levering at DALevering@FHSU.edu if you have questions about the Camps’ COVID19 mitigation policies outlined below. We strongly recommend you fully review these policies and protocols before proceeding with your application.  

• All staff are fully vaccinated for COVID19.  
• Camp groups will follow all public health protocol requirements of the respective states camps are taking place in, and requirements of locations visited. Example: If a state does not have a masking mandate, but a museum visited in that state does, then all students and staff will have to mask while visiting that museum.  
  • Example: If a public indoor space visited is in a state with no masking mandate, and no location-specific masking requirement, students will not be required to mask in that space, though they will not be discouraged from doing so.  
  • Staff will have masks on hand to provide to students as needed and/or desired.  
  • Field-based camps will not require masking during outdoor portions. Masking may be required on a case-by-case basis when visiting various indoor locations over the course of any given camp. 
• In spaces where masking is not explicitly required, students will not be required to wear masks. However, students who wish to wear a mask will be encouraged to take such steps to make them as comfortable as possible with their in-person camp experience. Harassment of students for choosing to/not to mask in spaces where it is optional will not be tolerated by staff.  
• A camper getting pulled from a camp will be very un-fun for everyone involved, and potentially expensive for anyone infected at camp due to quarantine protocols and travel plan changes. We are also not able to give refunds due to cancellations happening right before camp due to illness (or other factors). To absolutely minimize the possibility of a COVID19 infection in a camp group, we ask that all students take the following steps before camp:  
  • Two weeks before your camp begins, start taking extra caution in potentially exposure to COVID19 infection. This especially includes spending time unmasked in crowded indoor spaces. If you must spend time in such high-risk spaces, we ask you strongly consider wearing a well-fitting N95 respirator mask. 
  • Exercise your best judgement in even attending smaller indoor functions or crowded outdoor functions. COVID19 is extremely transmissible, and missing camp plus not being able to get a refund because you get COVID right before camp would really awful. 
     
• All students are strongly encouraged take a COVID19 test the day before traveling to their camp starting location. This can be a home rapid test, or through an accessible lab facility that does such testing. We ask this be done to mitigate any chance of arriving at your program only to unexpectedly test positive at the beginning of camp. Testing positive at the beginning of camp and documenting the positive results may be necessary for any travel insurance claims for cancelled made if you choose to purchase a policy via CampDoc or elsewhere. This test used to be required in advance, but we have reduced it to a strong recommendation as tests have become a bit harder to find more recently. 
  
  
• All students (and staff) are required to complete a COVID19 rapid test upon arriving at the drop-off location for their camp. Staff will have rapid tests marked with the date and the student's name ready to hand out. Bringing your own test will not be permissible in place of this test. We consider this a very small inconvenience to maximize our chances for a camp free of major medical disruptions.  
  
  
• Any students who test positive on the arrival rapid test will not be allowed to continue with their participation, nor will they be able to get a refund for the program. We are strict on this policy in protection of other students as well as staff who may have immunity complications. We are also prioritizing preventing immensely disruptive outbreaks to our programs that ruin the experience for all involved. Once again we strongly recommend taking strong precautionary measures in the weeks prior to camp and during travel, and taking a reputable diagnostic test for COVID19 with two days of travel to your program. We also strongly recommend families look into insurance policies to protect against the financial impacts of illness interfering with their child's ability to participate in camp at any stage. 
  
  
• COVID19 vaccination is not required to participate in our programs. However, we strongly recommend students who are vaccinated upload a readable photo/scan of their COVID19 vaccination card to their CampDoc profile in the medical information section. This is simply another piece of relevant, useful healthcare documentation. Such status will only be used in relevant healthcare scenarios and is in no way used to determine program admission or disclosed to anyone outside of our staff or healthcare professionals. We collect this information to allow our on-site staff to make well-informed student management, care, and situation-response decisions and/or communicate said information to physicians if the need arises. This is true for all of the medical information we collect and will not be shared outside Sternberg Science Camps staff teams and relevant medical professionals as needed.  
  
  
• Each camp has 6+ COVID rapid tests on-hand in their materials kit. Staff are aware of their locations, and protocols on using them. If a student is showing typical signs of COVID infection, they will be asked to complete a rapid test so staff can make informed health and safety decisions for the student and broader camp group. 
  
  
• In a situation with a positive test in the group, we will begin requiring masking and distancing protocols for all students and staff until we can test the entire group and confidently ascertain that everyone is COVID19 negative. Other mitigation steps may be taken depending on the situation of the camp group and whether they are camping, in dorms, and so forth.  
  
  
• As with any other concerning medical issue, a COVID19-positive student (based on a positive rapid test result) will be transported to the nearest medical facility for evaluation as needed following communication with parents. All positive COVID rapid tests will result in that individual being removed from the group to quarantine. In each case, parents will be contacted about the situation to discuss options, and will be kept up to date on developments. 
  
  
• Students pulled for COVID19 infection will not be able to rejoin the group, as the standard wait time for no longer being infectious outlasts any sensible timeframe for returning. We strongly recommend exploring insurance plans offered via CampDoc or other travel insurance plans to cover unexpected expenses of having a student pulled from camp over COVID or other health issues. We expect parents/guardians to be expeditious in working with our staff to get the student secured so the staff who transported them to the hotel/hospital or airport earlier than otherwise expected can rejoin the main group. This is mostly borne of safety concerns as we need the full staff presence to properly and safely execute any of our in-person programs.  
  
  
• In the case of our field camps, pulling a student from the field can be quite arduous, which is one of many reasons why we are enacting strict applicant COVID19 precautionary requirements. 

Our in-person middle school camps are over-night programs, lasting from one week.

All in-person camps include the following:

• Meals and snacks, typically from lunch on the first day to lunch on the last day. We keep a substanital food budget, and are capable of working around specific dietary requirements so long as they are disclosed in advance in the student's CampDoc application. 
• Staff supervision includes at minimum a lead instructor and teaching assistant. For our field-based camps we include a staff member with an active Wilderness First Responder Certification. WFR Certification training is done through the National Outdoor Leadership School. 
• Transportation and accomodations during the camp. This includes pickups and dropoffs at the designated airport for the camp. We cannot do airport pickups or dropoffs anywhere other than the one designated for each respective camp. 
• Materials and equipment for all camp activities. This varies from camp to camp. For details, please see individual camp descriptions. If you have further questions, contact us at SternbergCamps@FHSU.edu.
• Photography of activities by staff. Students are of course welcome to take photos as well. We typically post photos to the Camps' accounts on Instagram and Facebook whenever on-site staff are able to provide some from the field. Larger uploads of photos and videos by staff take place after the camp has concluded. (Sometimes staff are in areas with poor signal strength and are unable to transmit photos. We ask for patience with the frequency we post updates.)

Camping Trips

• Our field camps include extensive tent camping on a range of camp site types, including state/federal campgrounds, private campgrounds, and research stations. We will also make use of university dorms and hotels/AirBnBs when called for. 
• As these programs typically take place in the middle of summer, conditions are often hot and sunny. some programs will include time in cooler conditions including caves, mountains, or areas where temperatures decrease noteably at night. Students should be well prepared for a range of temperature and weather conditions.
• Tents and sleeping pads are provided for students, with usually 2-3 students in an appropriately sized tent. We ask that participants not bring their own tents as they may not be appropriate for conditions in the camp, or sized properly for the campsites we reserve. Camp pads are typically thick foam or inflatable. Participants are welcome to bring their own sleeping pad if they desire. Participants must provide their own sleeping bags, pillows, and other such personal items. 
• As we are camping, access to electrical outlets is limited. We strongly recommend students bring a portable power bank for their phone, and exercise good judgement in battery use. Chargers in the vehicles are reserved for staff to keep devices fully charged, as well as recharging cameras and other devices. 
• While we do not do any heavy backpacking, the field camps are typically at least moderately physically demanding. Staff put a great deal of time, care, and effort into training students to mentally and physically adapt to the necessities of fieldwork. We know such activities can be quite challenging, and our central goal is helping students be succesful. 

• Student applicants must be ages 12 to 14 as of June 2025.

  The final 2025 application deadline is April 7th. We will not review an applicant’s packet for admission until it is 100% complete.

  • You can register using the online system. This includes a scholarship application portion.
    • To do this, you will need to set up an account with CampDocs. Once this is done, you’ll be able to log back in as you complete the application process. 
  • Include a one page (2-3 paragraph) letter of interest written by the student.This letter should be uploaded to your online application on CampDoc. 
    • You can find suggestions for writing your letter of interest here .
  • Letter of recommendation from the non-family member for the student applicant.
    • This can be sent to us at SternbergCamps@FHSU.edu. We will upload it to your CampDoc profile once recieved. You can also upload it your profile yourself, using the document upload portion of the Health Profile. Either approach is fine, so long as the letter is uploaded on time. 
    • You can find instructions for recommendation letter-writers here.
    • Most* returning students in good standing** do not need to submit a recommendation letter.
      • *Students must have participated within the previous two summers. Students returning after after two or more summers will need to submit a recommendation letter. 
      • **Standing is determined by staff. A student not in good standing will be expressly notified by the Camps Director.

  The 2025 application review deadlines are:

  • February 7th
  • February 16th
  • March 2nd (Early registration discount deadline.)
  • March 16th
  • April 7th (Final application deadline.)

  After each of these dates, we will review the 100% completed applications for admission. Notifications will go out to those applicants within a week of each respective deadline. We may accept late applications on a case by case basis, as some camps have their enrollment locked after that deadline. If you are applying after April 2nd, please contact us at the email below before starting your application.

Sternberg Science Camps are based at the FHSU Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Kansas. We are a non-profit organization pursuing equitable access to exceptional earth and life science education programs and positive, supportive community for kids and teens. Our wider goal is to provide learning, networking and professional development opportunities to pre-college students in small group settings. We operate field, lab, classroom and blended programs to offer our students robust learning and growing experiences in settings where they feel safe and supported by staff and their like-minded peers. 

We use small groups (8-10 students maximum) to boost sense of community and increase per-student attention from staff (3 per program). Our instructors are experts in their fields, with experience and training in education as well as research, field work, and other scientific career paths. Teaching assistants are typically earth and life science graduate students or undergraduates, and often are alumni of our high school programs. Our alumni can be found across the country pursuing careers in academic research, resource management, science education, industry, and the arts. 

Our program fees go to program execution, paying our staff, and helping fund our scholarship program. In 2024 we also began a personnel investment program where we direct surplus funds to help our staff improve their professional knowledge, research skills and peer network strength. We are grateful to be able to provide funding resources to help students as well as the staff who work with them opportunities to further develop in pursuit of their academic and professional goals. 

Curious to learn more? Read on! You can also check us out on Facebook, Instagram, and Bluesky, all @SternbergCamps!  

You can contact us directly at DALevering@FHSU.edu, or at 785-639-5249. 

Our camps staff are professional scientists and science educators, graduate students, undergraduates, and select program alumni. We value a wide range of professional skills and career paths, in order to provide a broad set of skills training and perspective to our students. All of our staff are deeply passionate about science outreach and education in addition to their professional specializations.

Each field-based program includes at least one staff member with a Wilderness First Responder certification, ensuring quick, decisive action when dealing with any kind of injury or health concern in the field.

A 10% deposit is paid at the time of registration. Students who are accepted into the camp must then have the remainder of the registration fee paid by the May 1st, 2023 payment deadline.

For questions about the Sternberg Science Camps programs, contact us at SternbergCamps@fhsu.edu or 785-639-5249.