MPL staff has struggled in the past to keep tweens engaged. This age group feels too old for children’s programs but are too young to join teen services. By establishing tween-specific programs, we have been able to better engage and retain students ages 9-12. One of the most popular of these programs is our Forensics Camp. This unique learning opportunity teaches valuable STEM concepts in a fun format. Because low-income students have the least access to STEM resources, this free camp is creating equitable access.

For this virtual week-long camp, tweens were given take-home kits and then had classes from experts where they learned fingerprinting, how to analyze blood splatters, hair fibers, and to evaluate time of death based on decomposition and maggots. The final project was to solve a case based on their learnings. The tweens loved all the icky stuff and had no idea they were participating in STEM education. Participants have followed up requesting more programs like this, and we are planning a spring break session as well.

This free camp overcomes access barriers for historically excluded populations and introduces participants to STEM concepts that have been demonstrated to improve future education and career outcomes. It also gives MPL staff the opportunities to connect students with other valuable programs like Curriculum Resource Centers, LINC/2-1-1 social service referrals, homework help, robotics, coding, Gadget Lab, book clubs, test prep and more.

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