Verizon camp celebrates girls in STEM

The Verizon Innovative Learning STEM Camp for Girls kicked off Monday, proving to young women that there is a place for them in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) workforce.

The camp is open to girls, grades six through eight, who want to dive further into the STEM realm.

"We would love to see more female engineers, more scientists, more coders," said camp director Traci Tackett. "This camp gets them off on the right track."

The three-week camp is one of 16 in the United States and is the only camp in Kentucky. Seven counties across the state are being represented at the camp and girls from West Virginia have also registered.

"We're excited about our reach, we're very diverse and a lot of our region is represented," Tackett said.

She said the theme for this year is superheroes and those involved ask the students to consider their own power and how they would like to put it to use to create a better future.

"To learn about technology; how it can be applied to entrepreneurship," Tackett said. "And they're going to work with partners to create projects that could potentially be a deal-breaker for Eastern Kentucky."

The camp takes place weekdays, from 9 a.m until 4 p.m., until June 28. Tackett said the camp currently has openings and those interested should drop by the Prestonsburg campus for more information.