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Ellis Abel Learns.

Engineering Summer Camp in Onalaska, WI

Onalaska is one of the cities the La Crosse–Onalaska, WI-MN metro area is officially named after. The case for engineering summer camp here is not that the area lacks camps — it is that most of them end without the child being able to explain what they made.

Ages 7-14 · For families · Wisconsin · Midwest

Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Onalaska, WI
Engineering Summer Camp — Ellis Abel Learns STEM summer camp materials used in Onalaska, WI

What the week actually is

Engineering week is constraints week. A bridge that must hold a weight, with a fixed pile of materials and a deadline. Children who have never been told no by a problem before meet one here, and learn that the answer is a redesign, not a tantrum.

Day by day

  1. Constraints and a materials budget
  2. First build, first collapse
  3. Redesign from what failed
  4. Load test to destruction, record the number
  5. Showcase: defend the design choice

Onalaska, WI — what applies locally

  • Onalaska is one of the cities the La Crosse–Onalaska, WI-MN metro area is officially named after.
  • Metro area: La Crosse–Onalaska, WI-MN
  • State: Wisconsin · Region: Midwest

Questions we get from Onalaska, WI

What do they build?
Load-bearing structures, simple machines, catapults, water filters — physical things that either work or fall over.
Is it messy?
Yes. That is not incidental.
Do they work alone or in teams?
Both. Solo build first, then a team build where they have to defend a design choice out loud.

Other camp themes in Onalaska

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Engineering Camp elsewhere in Wisconsin

Waukesha, WICityMount Pleasant, WICityNeenah, WICityBeloit, WICityMilwaukee, WIMetro areaMadison, WIMetro areaGreen Bay, WIMetro areaAppleton, WIMetro area

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