64 Panhandle students participating in Mavericks STEM camp

BAY COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – 64 Panhandle middle and high school students are spending part of the week at Rutherford High School.

They are participating in the Mavericks STEM camp. During this camp, students learn to build artificial intelligence models and real-world applications for science, technology, engineering, and math.

The camp is sponsored by FSU Panama City and the Department of Defense. The hope is many of these teens will get college degrees in STEM fields and go to work for defense contractors.

Students learn coding skills to use Python, and then implement that code to operate different robots and drones.

“So they essentially start using these things called Raspberry Pi, small computers, and they learn how to code using Python operating language, and then they implement that into the computer and they can learn different software algorithms. Then we actually bring them over to different spaces like these where there are hula hoops and challenges, obstacle courses that they have to operate through robots and flying drones,” FSU Director of Systems Engineering Danny Georgiadis said.

This is the third week for the 3-day camp, with different groups from 22 panhandle schools attending each week.

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