BEAM Summer Away student Janet writes out a problem on the blackboard at Harvey Mudd College in California.
This summer, excitement was in the air as BEAM welcomed over 400 middle school students to our camps across New York and Los Angeles for a summer of growth, joy, and exploration! One BEAM camper, Cayden, shared, “Coming to BEAM has helped me a lot in making me feel like I belong in the world of STEM.”
Finding the Fun at BEAM Discovery
Two BEAM Discovery students in LA solve problem 36 from the 100 Problem Challenge.
Over 300 rising 7th graders attended BEAM Discovery, a 5-week day camp held in New York City and Los Angeles.
Discovery campers built foundations in creative problem solving and applied math by taking courses such as Voting Theory, Experimental Geometry, Puzzles ‘n’ Proofs, and Truth, Lies, and Logic. Open Math Time, a daily session where students set their own learning goals and explored math of their choice, and the 100 Problem Challenge, where students solved especially tricky problems and puzzles, encouraged collaboration and perseverance. Some students spent upwards of 36 hours working on a single problem!
Two students try out bedazzling at BEAM Discovery in Downtown NYC.
End-of-summer camper surveys showed strong growth in academic resilience, motivation to succeed in STEM, and a sense of community and belonging in STEM, all key indicators of future success in STEM. According to Discovery camper Tabea, "When I work on group problems with my friends, I feel like I can solve anything.”
Of course, Discovery wasn’t just about the math! Students enjoyed giving their brains a break by playing sports, taking field trips to the movies and botanical gardens, and learning new skills like crochet, sushi-making, and bedazzling. The students also had a blast bonding with their counselors and TAs; across all Discovery sites, 40 staff members were BEAM alumni!
When we asked students to rate how likely they would recommend BEAM to a friend on a scale of 1 to 10, 93% of students responded with a 7 or higher. We look forward to seeing many of our Discovery campers at our residential program, Summer Away, next year!
Building Community at BEAM Summer Away
Over 120 rising 8th graders spent three weeks living in college dorms at Summer Away, a residential camp based at Harvey Mudd College in California and Marist University in New York. As Summer Away students experienced living away from home, many for the first time, they got a taste of life on a college campus, formed strong bonds with their fellow campers, and immersed themselves in proof-based mathematics.
BEAM Summer Away students in California work together to solve problems as fast as they can during a math relay.
We’re proud to share some truly remarkable mathematical outcomes this year! Our Summer Away students take the AMC 8, a national math contest, at the beginning and end of camp to measure their progress. While a 10% increase in national ranking is considered strong growth, this summer, the median student improved by more than 30% — the largest increase in BEAM's 13 years of tracking this outcome!
Our Summer Away students spent their three weeks exploring problem solving through courses like Strategic Math Thinking and “topics” classes such as Cryptography, Polyominoes, and Alien Arithmetic. They put their skills to work by participating in fast-paced math relays and collaborating to solve difficult “Challenge Problems” to win prizes. Beyond the classroom, students enjoyed activities like volleyball and chess, camp-wide events like Capture the Flag, and field trips to places like an alpaca farm and Six Flags.
BEAM Summer Away students in New York visit an alpaca farm.
Making connections with other campers is a huge part of the Summer Away experience; 89% of students shared an increased sense of community by the end of camp. “At the beginning of camp, students really missed their parents. By the end, they were crying because they didn’t want to say goodbye to their friends,” shared Sebastian, BEAM NYC’s Director of Programs. "My [Summer Away] classmates and teachers motivate me to keep studying in STEM fields,” said Summer Away student Andrea. “They encourage me to do whatever I desire and [to] always try my best.”
Beyond their impressive mathematical growth on the AMC 8, students also showed significant improvement in their academic resilience and STEM motivation, setting them up for future success in STEM! Just as importantly, our campers still managed to have a ton of fun — Summer Away students rated their experience a 6.4 out of 7. One student Joshua shared, “My summer at BEAM Summer Away was one of my favorite summers of my life.”
Summer Faculty Focus
BEAM’s classroom philosophy is student-focused, emphasizing collaboration and accessibility while empowering the student as a mathematician. For our summer faculty, this is an exciting chance to think outside of the box: one faculty member shared, “I really love working at BEAM. As a teacher, I find it to be rejuvenating, and I really look forward to it, even after teaching through a long school year.”
Faculty member Daniel Figueroa teaches the Ratio and Rates course at BEAM Discovery in LA.
To strengthen our faculty’s readiness for summer instruction this year, BEAM introduced a new type of pre-camp training: to think like a BEAM student! For the first time ever, the Academic Directors at each camp (a position introduced last summer; read more about them here) led a demo lesson in which faculty acted as the students. “We wanted them to really understand what a lesson looks like in practice,” explained Claribel Azcona, Director of Summer Programs Management. During the lesson, the faculty engaged in collaborative problem solving and productive struggle, just like a BEAM student would! They thought through problems together and reflected on their experiences afterwards to enhance their summer classrooms.
BEAM is always growing, and our approach to faculty training and development will evolve next year too! This coming summer, we hope to have even more sessions to train and prepare faculty before camp. As we continue to build on our successes, we progress towards our goal: that both students and faculty have an incredible, math-filled summer.
Our Best Summer Yet
At BEAM, we care deeply about creating unique summer experiences that leave a lasting impact on our students’ lives. One student, Julia, sums it up best:
I was always above my grade level in STEM subjects, so sometimes I was discouraged by the easiness of problems… I didn't feel connected to STEM. When I heard about BEAM, I dared to let myself hope I'd feel challenged… BEAM showed me problems and lessons I had never been taught, that I’d never known, problems that I struggled over for DAYS. BEAM made me feel more connected to STEM (especially mathematics) than ever. BEAM gave me a new mindset and struggles that helped me learn.
BEAM Discovery students in Uptown NYC walk to class with their counselor.