The Fred Otto DiscoverE Program

☀️And with that, the DiscoverE 2026 Summer Camp Season has officially come to an end! After 8 weeks of awesome projects, problem-solving and play, it's time to wrap up a well-engineered summer!🎊

💕To everyone who helped make this summer special, we appreciate you! We couldn’t have done it without the help of our amazing staff,junior instructors, volunteers, mentors and everyone in between! 🥰

🎉We’re looking back on all the amazing memories from the summer, and looking forward to a new season of DiscoverE!

Registration for 2027 Summer Camps is on February 2nd 2027! Stay tuned for more updates!

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➡️ Learn more: uab.ca/discovere 🔗

🎉Camp season is officially complete, and our campers had a gem of a time in our GEM+ camps! Our GEM+ camps for girls and gender-diverse campers to explore all the possibilities in engineering.

🫧Our Grade 2/3 campers had some fun with bubbles as they created their own Bubble Machines, while our Grade 4/5 kiddos were shooting for the stars as they concocted Rocket Fuel!🚀 In GEM+ 6/7, our campers built magical Ghost Globes using optical illusions.👻 Our Grade 8/9 campers channeled their inner biomedical engineers as they finished the week with a fetal pig dissection to learn all about anatomy! 🫀

📸Swipe to see a few gems from camp!

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➡️ Learn more: uab.ca/discovere 🔗

🤖It’s Week 7 of camps, and this week our kiddos were programmed for FUN in our Robotics Camps!

⚡In Grade 1 ECE and Robo, our campers had hair-raising antics as they explored the magic of static electricity. Our Grade 2/3 campers tested circuits by creating their own Conductivity Buddies with glowing eyes! 👀In Grade 4/5, our campers stepped into the world of biomedical robotics as they created robotic Prosthetic Arms! In Grade 6/7 and 8/9, our Robotics campers build moving machines inspired by real life animals.🐶 They built insect-inspired Ant-omatons and created canine iDog droids! 🪲

📸Swipe to see more bots ahead!

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⚡This week, our campers got amped up for Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE)!

🤖Our Grade 1 ECE and Robo campers learned all about circuits in Bot Builder Basics using cube-shaped robots! In Grade 2/3, our campers lit up their camp room with glowing Circuit Bugs.🐞 Our Grade 4/5 kids learned to code in Scratch by designing their own video games, while our Grade 6/7 campers created electrical illusions by building their own Infinity Mirrors! 🖥️ In Grade 8/9, our campers finished the week strong by exploring the world of Microelectronics!🔌

📸 Swipe to see more powered-up pictures!

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➡️ Learn more: uab.ca/discovere 🔗

💫It’s Week 5 of camp, and this week our campers became future engineer material in our Chemical and Materials Engineering (CME) camps!🧪

⛅This week, our Grade 1 CEE and CME campers mixed materials to create super-soft cloud dough! In CME 2/3, our kiddos looked to the stars as they launched Pop Bottle Rockets. ⏳While our Grade 4/5 campers were telling time using their own Liquid Hourglasses, our Grade 6/7 campers learned how to titrate in Citric Acid Titration. To finish off the week, the Grade 8/9 CME camp made atomic models using their new soldering skills!⚛️

📸 Swipe to see more chemistry ahead!

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➡️ Learn more: uab.ca/discovere 🔗

🎉We’re officially halfway through camps, and this week our campers had a CEE-riously good time at our Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) camps!🌎

🌞In Grade 1 CEE and CME, campers explored inclined planes as they raced on the Animal Ramp! Our campers learned all about energy as they built heat-trapping homes in Insulation with Igloos (CEE Grades 2/3) and self-powered cities in Post-Apocalyptic Engineering (CEE Grades 4/5). 💧In our CEE Grade 6/7 camp, kids explored ancient engineering as they built a working Heron’s Fountain. Our CEE Grade 8/9 campers ended off the week strong with a Mentor Session all about mining engineering!⛏️

📸 Swipe to CEE our camp highlights!

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➡️ Learn more: uab.ca/discovere 🔗

⚙️This week, our campers were mech-ing memories in our Mechanical Engineering (MecE) camps where they learned all about engineering in motion. 🚗

⛵Whether it was building buoyant sailboats in BME & MecE Grade 1 or creating catapults in Grade 2/3, our campers had a fantastic time exploring motion! Our Grade 6/7 and 8/9 campers had fun harnessing the power of speed to create Concrete Toboggans and CO2-Powered Cartridge Cars! In Grade 4/5, campers even got the chance to learn from Jayman Cannataro about fluid mechanics in the natural world. 🍃

📸 Swipe to see our best mech moments!

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➡️ Learn more: uab.ca/discovere 🔗

🌍July 15th is World Youth Skills Day, and DiscoverE is proud to play a part in supporting our youth in learning skills for a shared future. World Youth Skills Day celebrates the importance of empowering young people to learn skills that support future employment and a sustainable future.☀️

🔎Did you know that 1 in 5 individuals aged 15-24 are not in employment, education, or training? DiscoverE helps raise the number of youth interested in pursuing education and careers in STEM through our fantastic summer camp programming! Each day at camp, our campers learn applicable, real-life skills through engaging projects.🔬Our support doesn't end with our campers; we also have a large team of Junior Instructors and Volunteers that gain valuable skills while helping run our camps and often come back as Instructors in later summers!

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➡️ To learn more about our programming, visit: uab.ca/discovere 🔗

🎉Week 1 and 2 of camp are officially complete, and our campers are living it up!

These past two weeks, our campers have explored all aspects of engineering through exciting projects! Whether it’s creating model blood cells in BME 4/5, concocting rocket fuel in GEM+ 6/7 or programming tiny robots off-campus, DiscoverE campers are always learning something new! 🧪Our CME 4/5 campers even got the chance to wrap up the week with a trip to the Print Study Centre to learn about materials engineering in printmaking!

🎊A HUGE shout out to everyone who brings the energy to DiscoverE: our amazing instructors, our fabulous volunteers, our outstanding mentors and our incredible campers. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer will hold!🥳

➡️ Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube: 📱
➡️ To learn more about our programming, visit: uab.ca/discovere 🔗

☀️June 21st marks the celebration of National Indigenous People’s Day, part of Canada’s Indigenous History Month. Today we recognize and celebrate the vibrant culture and heritage of Canada’s Indigenous communities!

🙌DiscoverE actively aims to support decolonization. We recently hosted Elder Evelyn Day of the Telegraph Creek Tahltan Band to guide our summer staff team through a Blanket Exercise, an educational program meant to teach the history of Canadian colonization through an Indigenous perspective. This was followed by bannock, tea, coffee and juice where Elder Evelyn shared her stories and connected individually with all of our staff.

🌱DiscoverE is proud to work with Indigenous communities across Alberta to combine traditional ways of knowing with our STEM camp curriculum. This year, our team is looking forward to heading off-campus again to celebrate and collaborate with our local Indigenous communities.🌼