MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) —A new engineering camp at West Virginia University kicked off over the weekend, giving 24 high school students hands-on experience with the field of aerospace engineering.
As described on the program’s website, “SpaceTrek is a residential summer program in space systems engineering for young women entering 9th—12th grade or entering college as a freshman.” Specifically, the program focuses on students in Appalachia and got its start at Morehead State University, but this year the program is making its debut at West Virginia University.
SpaceTrek engineering camp at WVU, June 13, 2025 (WBOY image)David Martinelli, an engineering research professor at WVU and director of the SpaceTrek program there, said that exposing students to new challenges and environments is one of the main aspects of the program, particularly for students from smaller towns or those who are unfamiliar with engineering.
However, Martinelli believes that just because a student might not have an established interest in engineering doesn’t mean they are less capable of learning more.
“The technical fields are available for just about anyone, and universities are well equipped to meet students who have a reasonable aptitude in math and science, but meet them where they’re at, and take them to the point of being able to perform in the workplaces in engineering,” Martinelli said.
Alex Rhodes, a teaching assistant professor at WVU who is helping to run the SpaceTrek program, said he wants the students to learn that being an engineer is not as unachievable as it might seem.
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“I think the biggest learning outcome of this is to show students in high school that […] they’re capable of doing these aerospace engineering jobs,” Rhodes said. “These are within reach, something that they can handle.”
During the camp, students will learn skills like soldering and wiring as well as other things like teamwork and planning. On Thursday, the students will put their skills to use and build a series of small weather sensors called “CricketSats,” which will be launched via weather balloons and monitored remotely by students.
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