Allex Rumbles (L), Daniela Teodorescu (C), and Josh Smith (R) welcome campers to the 2019 Science Summer Camps. Photo credit: John Ulan
Science Summer Camp instructors are passionate and enthusiastic about sharing their love of science with our camps of future scientists. Meet the instructors of this year's Advanced Computing Science summer camps.
Allex Rumbles
Program: BEd in secondary education
Interests: Hiking, skiing, and travelling.
What do you love most about science?
What I love most about science is that it helps us to understand the world around us and find new and exciting ways to approach and solve problems.
As a returning instructor to Science Summer Camps, what did you find fulfilling about the position in previous years/what made you want to return?
Every week was different! Both our campers and our leaders were constantly finding new ways to make the camps as engaging and fulfilling as possible.
What is your favourite memory from instructing camps in previous years?
Seeing campers come up with all sorts of interesting and creative questions, projects, and solutions to challenges.
What was one of your favourite camp projects to share with campers?
Web design. A website is something that campers can really make their own and continue to develop even after they leave camp.
Tell us a fun fact about you!
This spring I went on a trip to Morocco where I got to ride a camel!
Daniela Teodorescu
Program: BSc Honors in computing science
Interests: Hiking, biking and travelling
What do you love most about science?
Science is a vast and diverse field, sure to have something for everyone. Most importantly, science is all about innovation-asking questions and trying things out. That makes it a hands-on and fun area to let your mind wander and discover new things.
As a returning instructor to Science Summer Camps, what did you find fulfilling about the position in previous years/what made you want to return?
I thoroughly enjoyed helping campers learn about something that I am passionate about. It is fulfilling to see campers learning new topics and enjoy applying the material. To me, this demonstrated that they have learnt the material and had fun at the same time. I was inspired when campers would show projects they had continued working on at home because they enjoyed what we did in camp.
What is your favourite memory from instructing camps in previous years?
My favourite memory was seeing the excitement when campers accomplished a challenging project and understood why it worked. I also enjoyed hearing all the questions throughout camp week; they always offered enthusiastic and insightful perspectives which were intriguing to discuss.
What was one of your favourite camp projects to share with campers?
One of my favourite activities to share with the campers was virtual reality with Google Cardboard. Campers loved the chance of creating their own unique virtual world-which they designed and coded. The best part of it was seeing it all come to life through the headset they built.
Tell us a fun fact about you!
I like hiking ridge trails!
Josh Smith
Program: BSc computing science
Interests: Playing disc golf, snowboarding, camping, coding, and video games
What do you love most about science?
Problem solving, being able to work through problems and get verifiable solutions.
As a returning instructor to Science Summer Camps, what did you find fulfilling about the position in previous years/what made you want to return?
Being able to teach campers about subjects I'm interested in and hopefully inspire them to continue learning about computing science.
What is your favourite memory from instructing camps in previous years?
Hearing the campers excitedly explain to their parents about all the cool things they did in camp.
What was one of your favourite camp projects to share with campers?
I enjoyed teaching Scratch-a visual programming language-as learning that tool inspired many of the campers to come up with their own games and animations in unique ways.
Tell us a fun fact about you!
I'm a professional disc golfer.