Summer Camps 2026: Science in the Park

For campers in grades 4–8

Register here!

Blast Off! Propel and Fly Rockets
Weeks of July 6 & July 13

In this fun, five-day outdoor adventure, students will design, build, and operate their own rocket-powered vehicles of increasing energy density. Propulsion sources will include human muscle, pressurized air, gas generators, and solid-grain propellant. Students will learn basic concepts—in mechanics, thermodynamics, chemistry, aerodynamics, and control—needed to model and optimize their designs, and can take home any surviving vehicles they have built to keep on flying. By week's end, we will be sending payloads sky-high!

Power Up! Make and Use Electricity
Weeks of August 3 & August 10

In this electrifying, five-day outdoor enterprise, students will design, build, and operate their own bench-scale renewable energy network powered by the natural environment. Component elements will include electrical generation, transmission, storage, and application to everyday needs. Students will learn the fundamentals of key technologies—electromagnetics, batteries, semiconductors, circuits, and feedback control—needed to construct modern electrical infrastructure, and can take their creations home to keep on building. In a few days, we will be harnessing the world's energy to power our dreams!

Daily Schedule (M–F 9am–4pm)

09:00	Welcome and Warm-ups
09:30	Group Exploration and Project Planning
10:30	Snack
10:45	Project Design
12:00	Lunch and Outdoor Games
13:00	Project Build
14:15	Break
14:30	Project Test and Assessment
15:45	Group Clean-up and Reflections
16:00	Pick up

Camp Details

Location

Activities will take place in the neighborhood of Ravenna Park in NE Seattle.
Camp will remain outdoors throughout the day, walking to nearby locations appropriate for each day's activities.
In case of severe weather or other emergencies, we have access to fully enclosed shelter immediately adjacent to Ravenna Park.

What to Bring

Enough food (snack and lunch) and water for an active summer day outside.
Multiple layers of clothing suitable for a range of temperatures, activity levels, and light rain.
A dry change of clothes in case of unexpected heavy rain.
Sun protection gear such as a hat and sunscreen.
Backpack/bag suitable to transport food, water, and unused clothing while walking one or two miles.

Expectations

Students are comfortable and physically prepared to spend all day outside, making use of mostly natural shelter.
Students will leave any non-essential materials, including electronic devices, stowed silently and out of sight in their bags for the duration of camp each day.
Students can communicate fluently in English with instructors, staff, and other participants.
Students are prepared to follow instructors' directions, remain attentive to safety-critical information, and raise any concerns in a timely fashion.
Instructors will help each student, to the best of their ability, to safely learn, grow, and have a great time!

Meet Our Instructors

Thomas Coffee is the founding director of Verdafield. His career includes a decade in spaceflight research at MIT and NASA, where he led demonstrations of novel state-of-the-art technologies for space trajectory planning, precision planetary landing, planetary surface exploration, and artificial gravity. He spent another decade in software and operations research at Google, Microsoft Research, and Amazon, where he developed optimization systems for global logistics networks serving billions of customers.

For over thirty years, Thomas has actively taught students of all ages—in math, science, engineering, music, and dance—including developing new educational programs with MIT, NASA, University of Washington, University Cooperative School, and Eckstein Middle School. He holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from MIT in math, astronautical engineering, and astrodynamics.

Shannon Dong is a Technical Fellow at The Boeing Company, leading advanced manufacturing automation and robotics technology concepts in Commercial Airplanes Product Development. She is also the Associate Director of the University of Washington Boeing Advanced Research Collaboration lab.

As an Affiliate Associate Professor in the UW Mechanical Engineering Department, Shannon has mentored dozens of undergraduate and graduate student engineering project teams. She holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees from MIT's Aeronautics & Astronautics Department and Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Lab.

Carolyn Major developed guidance and control systems for dozens of space missions over more than three decades at TRW / Northrop Grumman, including humanity's most complex scientific spacecraft, the James Webb Space Telescope. She was the first woman honored by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the national level for undergraduate research in aerospace engineering.

Throughout her career, Carolyn has developed and taught science enrichment programs at public and private K–8 schools in California and Washington. At MIT, she pursued the study of astronaut-assisted construction in space, and earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in Aeronautics & Astronautics.

Lucy Hu retired as a Senior Software Engineer at Ford Motor Company, where she was principally responsible for powertrain control module development. She has over 30 years of professional experience in the fields of software-hardware interface technology, software design, development, programming, and validation.

She previously served as an Associate Professor at Jilin University, accumulating a decade of experience in teaching and mentorship, and her students now sustain engineering roles across the globe. Lucy holds M.S. degrees in electrical engineering from Jilin University and in mathematics from Eastern Michigan University.