The 2019 National Youth Science Camp (NYSCamp) delegates will spend four weeks learning from accomplished STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) professionals. Meanwhile, they develop an appreciation of West Virginia, build interpersonal skills, and step outside of their comfort zones, by participating in outdoor activities like backpacking, mountain biking, kayaking, and caving.
Each year, the National Youth Science Foundation honors the legacy of WV Senator Martha Gaines Wehrle, who died in 2007, with the opening lecture of the National Youth Science Camp. Wehrle, who grew up in Fayetteville, was a civic leader and philanthropist who served in both houses of the West Virginia Legislature.
Ryan Haupt is a palaeontologist finishing his Ph.D. at University of Wyoming and working as a Research Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. Haupt discussed the link between the diets of modern and fossil sloths in West Virginia at the Martha Wehrle Opening Lecture.
The National Youth Science Foundation, a nonprofit organization with a mission to honor, sustain and encourage youth interest in science education and thoughtful scientific careers, plans, conducts, and fundraises for the NYSCamp. The delegates are selected on merit, based on their achievements, with the program provided to them at no cost.
An extended photo gallery can be found here.