4-H is the youth development program of the Cooperative Extension and has identified Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) as a national priority. Conducting STEM education during summer months for hard to reach youth can be a challenge. However, it is during summer when vulnerable students most often experience learning loss. During the summers of 2016-17, 4-H in Maine taught STEM lessons at local day camps ran by an experienced, nationally recognized youth development organization. An average of 214 youth in grades 3-6 participated weekly over the two summers. Lessons were created or assembled by University of Maine staff, delivered by college interns, and evaluated by faculty. Day-campers were surveyed about their experience and feedback data was obtained from program partners and college interns to create formative and summary results. This paper describes the successes and challenges of the two year process to deliver quality STEM programs where the kids are.
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Mason et al. (2018) studied this question.