The Impact of Engineering Summer Camp Counseling on Students' Community Cultural Wealth and Engineering Identities

Gabriella Coloyan Fleming; Christine Julien; Kiersten Elyse Fernandez

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Empowering Diversity in Engineering Education: Strategies and Impacts
Tagged Division: Minorities in Engineering Division(MIND)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/48107

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Paper Authors

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Gabriella Coloyan Fleming orcid.org/0000-0002-6771-8741

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Dr. Gabriella Coloyan Fleming is the Director of the Center for Equity in Engineering and a research associate in the Center for Engineering Education at the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from UT Austin. Her engineering education research interests include assets-based teaching and learning and DEI topics in graduate education, faculty hiring and retention, and pathways to an academic career.

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Christine Julien University of Texas at Austin orcid.org/0000-0002-4131-4642

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Christine Julien is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, where she leads the Mobile and Pervasive Computing research group. She also serves as the Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for

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Kiersten Elyse Fernandez University of Texas at Austin

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Abstract

It has been shown that out-of-classroom experiences build engineering students’ professional skills and engineering identities. Many other universities host engineering summer camps for middle and high school students and employ engineering undergraduate students as camp counselors. These camps are designed for students with minimal previous exposure to engineering. In this research study, we explore the impact of working as a counselor in these camps on counselors’ Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) assets and self-defined characteristics of an engineer. Five summer camp counselors in one institution’s 2023 summer camp programs participated in post-camp semi-structured interviews about their experiences as counselors. Two counselors identified as Black/ African American and three as Hispanic/ Latino/a/é; two identified as women and three as men. Collectively, counselors discussed all six types of capital in the CCW framework. Most commonly, they reported that they are actively improving skills they believe engineers to have (aspirational capital), that being a camp counselor improved their communication skills (linguistic capital), and built them a close network of friends that many consider to be like family (familial capital). Those who were in affinity-based student orgs, such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), encouraged non-members to join, building their social capital on campus. One participant mentioned that because being a camp counselor was her first job, she gained valuable life skills such as completing tax forms and managing a personal budget (navigational capital). Some counselors also talked about what it meant to them to be role models for campers of their same racial/ ethnic backgrounds, since they didn’t know such engineers growing up (resistant capital).

While out-of-classroom engineering experiences and their effects are well-studied, they are often limited to experiences such as extracurricular engineering activities or service learning projects. Despite the prevalence of engineering summer camp programs, the effects of working as a camp counselor are understudied. We hope that the results of this study will compel those running engineering summer camps to think not only about what the campers, but also the camp counselors themselves, are gaining from participating in these programs.

Citation
Format

Fleming, G. C., & Julien, C., & Fernandez, K. E. (2024, June), The Impact of Engineering Summer Camp Counseling on Students' Community Cultural Wealth and Engineering Identities Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/48107

TY - CPAPER
AB - It has been shown that out-of-classroom experiences build engineering students’ professional skills and engineering identities. Many other universities host engineering summer camps for middle and high school students and employ engineering undergraduate students as camp counselors. These camps are designed for students with minimal previous exposure to engineering. In this research study, we explore the impact of working as a counselor in these camps on counselors’ Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) assets and self-defined characteristics of an engineer. Five summer camp counselors in one institution’s 2023 summer camp programs participated in post-camp semi-structured interviews about their experiences as counselors. Two counselors identified as Black/ African American and three as Hispanic/ Latino/a/é; two identified as women and three as men. Collectively, counselors discussed all six types of capital in the CCW framework. Most commonly, they reported that they are actively improving skills they believe engineers to have (aspirational capital), that being a camp counselor improved their communication skills (linguistic capital), and built them a close network of friends that many consider to be like family (familial capital). Those who were in affinity-based student orgs, such as the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), encouraged non-members to join, building their social capital on campus. One participant mentioned that because being a camp counselor was her first job, she gained valuable life skills such as completing tax forms and managing a personal budget (navigational capital). Some counselors also talked about what it meant to them to be role models for campers of their same racial/ ethnic backgrounds, since they didn’t know such engineers growing up (resistant capital).

While out-of-classroom engineering experiences and their effects are well-studied, they are often limited to experiences such as extracurricular engineering activities or service learning projects. Despite the prevalence of engineering summer camp programs, the effects of working as a camp counselor are understudied. We hope that the results of this study will compel those running engineering summer camps to think not only about what the campers, but also the camp counselors themselves, are gaining from participating in these programs.
AU - Gabriella Coloyan Fleming
AU - Christine Julien
AU - Kiersten Elyse Fernandez
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - The Impact of Engineering Summer Camp Counseling on Students' Community Cultural Wealth and Engineering Identities
UR - https://peer.asee.org/48107
ER -