TCC Gives Students Hands-On Learning Experience With Roller Coaster Project

A camp at Tulsa Community College is letting students test their math and engineering skills by creating a roller coaster, and then putting that roller coaster to the test.

"It's a process, like you're seeing something that you are making come before your eyes and it's really cool," said student Logan Vaughn.

Logan Vaughn is from Kansas, Oklahoma, and heard about the camp from his school counselor. He's interested in STEM and knew he had to experience this. They first learn the math behind a rollercoaster, then design one themselves using Hot Wheels tracks, and then head back to the classroom to see how their rollercoaster would do in the real world.

"We got to figure out our roller coasters' instantaneous velocity, and it was really cool just to break it down into milliseconds, and learn the velocities of the coasters, and just see more of what engineering really is," he said.

Dr. Sheila Youngblood says this camp goes beyond just learning about STEM, but gives students a look at what a real college experience would be like.

"It allows students from all environments, which includes rural schools, underserved populations, kind of everybody to really come to an environment, maybe they haven't experienced, maybe they don't have an example in their family, where they know what it looks like to be a college student, they know what it looks like to be a college degree," she said.

Youngblood says the students create lifelong friendships from this camp. Atriya Nourbakhsh says she had such a great time last year, she came back again as a junior counselor. She says she will take what she's learned from the STEM academy with her to college and beyond.

"Networking is such an important thing to do and camps like these are extremely good ways to do that," she said.

There is an application process to attend the camp.

Dr. Youngblood says they took 30 of the 80 applicants this year. To learn more about the camp and how to apply visit the College for Kids section under the Continuing Education tab on the Tulsa Community College website or click here.