I open my text messages and see the picture: four gloved hands gently pry open a sheep’s heart, exposing thick muscular walls, delicate fibers, and the open cavity where circulation would take place.

 

It’s not an image for the fainthearted.

 

Am I looking at veterinarians conducting a post-mortem on a common farm animal? Or researchers chasing the next breakthrough in cloning – a sort of Dolly 2.0 experiment?

 

Nope!

 

I’m looking at student scientists – including Elliot Carter, a current 8th grader at American Leadership Academy in Lexington, SC – conducting a dissection at the Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics (GSSM) GoSciTech Day Camp at Midlands Technical College.

When I scroll over to see additional photos, the curiosity on the students’ faces is as arresting as the image of the sheep’s heart. They match other pictures I’ve seen from the Game Design and Engineering Camps, where learners are wide-eyed, pointing, leaning over to see better, and laughing – evidence that learning and discovery is meant to be joyful.

Finding the Right Home for Day Camps

GSSM is no stranger to summer camp programming; its original residential camp is over 30 years old. But when Randy LaCross became Vice President for Outreach at the school, he wanted to “expand the fantastic elements of the residential experience and figure out how to deliver those in communities across our state.”

 

Now, residential, virtual, and day camps all fall under the GoSciTech summer camp umbrella.

 

But GSSM encountered a particular challenge with its day camps: identifying consistent, accessible locations that could provide classroom and lab space; a large space for a closing celebration; and, for the technology camps, a computer lab and IT support. It was a big ask that many K-12 schools were unable to meet – especially as they often spend summers waxing floors, rehabbing air conditioners, and renovating buildings.

Then, several years ago, LaCross and his colleague, Susan Engelhardt, Outreach Director of Summer Programs, shared their limitations with Dr. Marilyn Fore, President of Horry-Georgetown Technical College. Dr. Fore’s response didn’t miss a beat: “Why haven’t you reached out to us before now?!”

 

“Because we now have consistent, well-maintained, well-resourced locations across the state, we can concentrate on the most important things – the students and the content.”
— Danny Dorsel, President, SC Governor’s School for Science and Mathematics

Not long after, in late fall of 2023, GSSM’s President Danny Dorsel initiated a conversation with SC Technical College System President Dr. Tim Hardee about the possibility of partnering. Hardee shared the idea with the presidents of the 16 technical colleges, and in its pilot year, ten colleges hosted GoSciTech Day Camps.

 

This summer, all 16 colleges participated – and the benefits for everyone are clear.

The Partnership Payoff

“Because we now have consistent, well-maintained, well-resourced locations across the state, we can concentrate on the most important things – the students and the content,” says Dorsel.

 

“By hosting the camps, we showcase our facilities and build connections with prospective students and their families,” says Hardee. “Students may interact with a robotic dog at Central Carolina’s Mechatronics department, learn about Florence-Darlington’s robust athletics program, or tour a trauma simulation lab in one of our Nursing programs. That kind of exposure to higher education is invaluable.”

 

Being on a college campus also feels much more exciting – and grown-up – for students. “We were in a college science lab, so we got to see and use all of the different materials an actual college student would use,” says Carter. “It was really cool to experience that!”

The Details That Make the Difference

Coordinating a GoSciTech Day Camp takes as much intention as it does imagination.

 

Parents and students weigh in on which topics spark the most excitement. Engelhardt recruits teachers with strong content knowledge, then equips them so they’re ready for four days of intense, hands-on learning. With class sizes averaging 15 students, instructors have the time and energy to connect with every student. Even the GSSM Foundation plays a key role, raising funds for financial aid so that cost isn’t a barrier for families.

 

Camp week culminates with a closing celebration – a high-energy showcase event filled with recognitions, speeches, and even the occasional college mascot. But the spotlight belongs to the students as families crowd around their projects, lean in close, and exclaim: “Wow!... That’s so cool!... You learned what?!”

More Than Just Cool Explosions

“By hosting the camps, we showcase our facilities and build connections with prospective students and their families…. That kind of exposure to higher education is invaluable.”
— Tim Hardee, President, SC Technical College System

GSSM sets the same high bar for its day camps as for its residential ones. In fact, its reputation is built on developing academically challenging curriculum, creative classroom experiences, and engaged and motivated scholars.

“We want to put students in situations where they’ve got to think, reason, and problem solve,” says LaCross. “At a lot of STEM camps, kids walk away saying, ‘I don’t know what I learned, but that explosion sure was cool!’ At our camps, students are able to articulate what they’ve learned – and they never walk away saying, ‘I was bored.’”

Elliot confirmed this when she “nerded out” about her camp experience, telling me all about the proper location of the probe in relation to the aortas during a dissection, the differences between red and yellow bone marrow, how glucose is used in ATP energy, and the purpose of the bronchioles in the respiratory process.

“That’s my favorite thing about camp,” reveals Engelhardt, “the way students walk out talking like adults because they have expertise in their subject.” She continues, “Sometimes when they go back to school and report on what they did over the summer, camp actually beats out vacation!”

Camps Today, Careers Tomorrow

As the 2025 camp season draws to a close, GSSM has been reflecting on the success of its partnership with the System and looking to the future.

 

There are opportunities to grow – by expanding virtual offerings to rural areas and collaborating with the technical colleges on marketing efforts. And there are challenges they still need to tackle – boosting enrollment and solving transportation hurdles for working parents.

 

But for now, the camps are succeeding at GSSM’s and the System’s shared mission to grow the STEM pipeline and foster early engagement – a mission that’s already become personal for students like Elliot.

 

“I’ve always wanted to be a pediatric nurse. But after learning more about how the muscular and skeletal systems work, I feel like being an occupational therapist or a physical therapist could be really cool,” she explains. “To know that I could help people perform everyday tasks or help athletes rehabilitate after injuries and get back to doing what they love – that would be so great because I could better someone’s life.”

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