Dedicated students, distinguished colleagues and dear friends,

Happy Friday. Happy Father’s Day!

The short after-commencement break for our campus is over, and our famed summer camps have started in earnest. Hundreds of curious K-12 campers have arrived from around the country and from nations around the world, and our campus is buzzing with energy of the youth. It is quite encouraging to see a campus full of inquisitive young minds eager to learn and experiment.

With themes that range from Engineering with Biology, Mechanical Crash Course, Nuclear Engineering, Explosives Engineering and Mining the Mind to Introduction to Engineering, Reverse Engineering, Is It Alive?, Robotics, Movie Making, Quantum, Worms to Stars, Chemistry, Space – the Final Frontier, Innovations in STEM, Amusement Park Design and many others, our camps are designed to intrigue, to educate and to open a window into the world for future engineers and scientists.

Enabled by the generosity of our largest benefactors, Fred and June Kummer, and under the leadership of Courtney Jones and her able team, our STEMM center summer camps program is designed “to bring science to life for students and teachers, with an emphasis on reaching K–12 communities to improve access to STEMM education.” Having watched the camp programs in action closely, I think of them as hands-on, old-school learning experiences that our campers do not forget. I know for a fact, because they tell me. They tell me years later!

You see, frequently, at least twice a week, at lunchtime, I go to our student center. Sandwich in hand, I invite myself to a table of six or seven students. I learn a lot from my conversations as I ask them where they went to high school or why they chose S&T or how they decided on their field of study. Among other answers, I often hear that their parents signed them up for a summer camp in engineering or robotics or biology and, “I knew right then that I wanted to become … ” and then they tell me about their plans to become an engineer or scientist or another awesome career they hadn’t considered before.

Looking back across my years, I notice that while the “work” has changed in many ways, the need for learning hasn’t. And, thanks to Covid years, I have also learned that virtual “YouTubing” will not provide the power of face-to-face, friend-to-friend, hands-on team experiences that remain our best teachers. I see how finely tuned the teams are as they approach their challenges, and I witness the excitement of the learning moments as our young campers intentionally and deliberately find their way to “solve the problem.”

For me, and I am sure for our faculty and staff who design, develop and deploy our summer camp programs, it is a proud moment to see the “lightbulbs” come on and to hear insightful questions and commentary about why an approach worked while so many others failed. The most enjoyable moments for me are those when I witness how learning becomes motivational – and even life changing. In my mind’s eye, I try to extrapolate our campers’ experiences and see motivated, skilled professionals able to apply their skillsets to provide critical contributions to critical challenges. Talented engineers and scientists who know what to do when one doesn’t know what to do! In my interactions with them, I see creative young possibility thinkers who engage with the world around them to find solutions on the fly. Amazing curious teenagers who are not afraid to experiment and are willing to fail on their way to workable, not-necessarily-perfect solutions.

To our young summer campers I say, don’t be afraid to experiment and be willing to fail. In the words of Mark Twain: “Good decisions come from experience. Experience comes from making bad decisions.” A proven shortcut is learning from the experiences of others through collaborative teamwork. To our faculty and staff I say, thank you! Thank you for your diligence and patience and for creating all the indelible experiences.

Finally, happy Father’s Day to all fathers, the most natural role models!

Warmly,

-Mo.

Share your thoughts!

Read previous Friday morning messages.

Check out the latest news from S&T:

• Florida Tech leader Dr. John Harris named Missouri S&T’s new provost
• Missouri S&T, Idaho National Laboratory launch research partnership
• St. Louis native encourages middle schoolers to pursue education, interests

Mohammad Dehghani, PhD
Chancellor
mo@mst.edu | 573-341-4116

206 Parker Hall, 300 West 13th Street, Rolla, MO 65409-0910
chancellor.mst.edu