School of Natural Resources’ Weather Camp Goes National

Campers gather at the start of Weather Camp 2012, June 11, 2012.
Campers gather at the start of Weather Camp 2012, June 11, 2012.

Lincoln – UNL’s School of Natural Resources will host a week-long Weather Camp that teaches students aged 10-14 about weather- and science-related topics. Weather Camp will run on UNL’s East Campus from June 10 – 14, 2013.

The camp, part of a national Weather Camp network, seeks to inspire students to advance in their educations and pursue careers in science.

“Two years ago was our pilot program,” said Kenneth Dewey, the coordinator of SNR’s Weather Camp and chair of the School’s outreach committee. “Last year, we branched out to local students. This year, now that we are part of the national Weather Camp program, we have students from all across the nation applying to be a part of our camp.”

17 students from seven different states will participate in this year’s camp. These students will travel from cities as far away as Independence, Kentucky and Dallas, Texas.

To be accepted into the program, students had to fill out an application explaining why they deserved to be accepted. Competition was steep, with many accepted students displaying excellent service, scientific, and academic records.

“As I read their applications,” said Dewey, “I just thought to myself, ‘I can’t wait to meet this kid.’ The hardest part of my job has been to tell some of the kids applying that we couldn’t offer them admission.”

Camp activities include field trips to the Lincoln-Lancaster County’s Emergency Operations Center, a local TV station to watch the news and weather broadcast live on the set, and UNL’s Memorial Stadium to collect weather data inside and around the stadium. The National Weather Service in Omaha, Nebraska will be sending their Warning Coordination Meteorologist down to the UNL Weather Camp to teach the students about severe weather meteorology and storm safety. There are several weather experiments also planned for inside and outside of Hardin Hall during the week of Weather Camp.

We encourage and invite the media to come visit our Weather Camp and observe these kids who embrace science education and will become tomorrow’s science leaders.

While Weather Camp's application is closed for this summer, the program is still welcoming sponsors who would like to be affiliated with the Weather Camp program. To help support these students and the educators who produce this camp, please contact Dr. Kenneth Dewey for more information (402-472-2908 or kdewey1@unl.edu).

SNR’s camp is one of five official National Weather Camps. Another six camps are affiliated with this national network.

The website for the UNL National Weather camp is http://go.unl.edu/weathercamp

More details at: http://go.unl.edu/2h3