HAYS – Registration for the 2019 Summer Camps, hosted by Fort Hays State University’s Sternberg Museum of Natural History, is now open. Elementary, middle and high school students are given an opportunity to engage in science through a series of outdoor field camps and day camps. Elementary school camps are divided between first- and third-graders, and fourth- and fifth-graders. Grades 1 to 3 will have two available weeks of half-day camps, while grades 4 and 5 will have one week of full-day camps. 

“This will allow us to customize the camps a bit more for different age groups and better challenge our older elementary students with more advanced content and activities,” said David Levering, camps director at Sternberg. 

“We’re excited about the opportunities this will create for new activities for our students that best fit their interest and development,” he said. 

Middle school camps will take part in Kansas Paleontology and Naturalist programs, with addition of a new field paleontology camp in Oregon in collaboration with the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History. This camp, taught by Kellum Jones, UO doctoral candidate, will take students from the rocky high desert of eastern Oregon to the coast for a week-long fossil hunting adventure. 

“Students will get to explore over 40 million years of prehistory, including sabertooth cats, tiny ancestral horses, horned rodents and ancient sea lions,” said Levering. 

High school camps will focus on paleontology and wildlife biology programs, along with a Research Methods Camp, which will be on FHSU’s campus, taught by Dana Reuter, UO doctoral candidate. The first-ever Fossil Preparation Methods Camp will also be offered, which will use the new fossil prep lab at the Sternberg Museum. 

New field camps include: Field Paleontology; Australia; Field Volcanology; and Ecuador Wildlife Biology Camp, taught by Dr. Megan Patterson. 

“Field Volcanology is being conducted in cooperation with the UO, and will take students to active research sites in Washington, Oregon and California,” said Levering. 

“This camp is being instructed by UO doctoral candidate Michelle Muth and will take students from Mount St. Helens in Washington to the massive lava flows and features of Eastern Oregon in just the first week,” he said. In Field Paleontology: Australia, students will have the opportunity to join American and Queensland paleontologists in the outback to explore Australia’s ancient seaway of fossil fish, ammonites and marine reptiles. 

For more information on dates, prices, camps, or to register, visit http://sternberg.fhsu.edu/active-learning/camps/.