KCSOS STEAM Summer Camp Grows the Next Generation of Educators

Students who visit the KCSOS STEAM Yard this summer step into a space that blends a classroom with a fictional wizard academy. Witch hats, floating candles, brick walls, and portraits of famous wizards set the scene, while hands-on STEAM stations fill the room, including a LEGO wall, 3D printers, anatomy models, building blocks, and coding tools.

The STEAM Yard introduces students to engaging, accessible STEAM experiences, often for the very first time. Since 2021, KCSOS has continually expanded and refined its STEAM Summer Camps across Kern County, enhancing the curriculum and developing a network of young mentors who lead lessons each day.

KCSOS launched STEAM Summer Camp in 2021 as GEMS (Girls Excelling in Math and Science), a one-week program for girls at CALM. The program expanded into STEAM Summer Camp the following year. In April 2025, KCSOS opened the STEAM Yard as a permanent home for year-round STEAM programming.

Continuing the wizard theme at the STEAM Yard, mentor Melissa Aguilera leads the summer’s most popular activity: potions.

“We use graduated cylinders, beakers, and test tubes, and we teach the students the importance of precise measurements, because it can ultimately change the way the potion will come out,” Aguilera explained. “Students have fun with it, and then I ask them, ‘What would have happened if you accidentally put ten milliliters of the blue potion instead of five?’”

Students quickly respond that the potion would change, becoming stronger or weaker.

“This is what chemists do every day! You’re chemists right now, and wizards!” Aguilera exclaimed.

Just a few years ago, Aguilera studied kinesiology and planned a career in physical therapy. After she earned her bachelor’s degree, completed kinesiology internships, and applied to graduate programs, she felt something was missing.

“When I started finding out more about what the STEAM Summer Camp mentor position was, I was like, ‘This is great!’” Aguilera explained. “I wanted to help shape students for success, and that’s how I knew I needed to go into education.”

Now a fourth-year returning mentor, Aguilera completes her student teaching this spring and expects to have her own classroom next fall. Her path reflects a growing pattern within STEAM Summer Camp, where a program designed to engage students also builds a pipeline for future educators.

Karla Medrano also found her calling through the STEAM Summer Camp. She studied computer science at California State University, Bakersfield, and originally planned to become a software engineer. She changed her mind after working as a mentor for the program at its CALM, Kern County Museum, and Buena Vista Museum locations.

“That first rotation, I’ll never forget it,” Medrano reflected. “We taught the kids a simple block code to get their robots to race. Once we made sure they understood everything, the kids started racing their robots. Seeing the kids’ faces light up is what really sparked me into wanting to become a teacher.”

Medrano will begin her first year teaching computer science and Project Lead the Way courses at Garces Memorial High School this fall. For Arlene Hernandez, teaching was already the goal. She began working as a mentor for STEAM Summer Camp at CALM while attending Bakersfield College. She is eager to be a first-year teacher next fall.

“My favorite part about working here is having the chance to work with diverse students,” Hernandez explained. “Because we work with so many different districts around Kern County, I see a wide variety of students, and I feel like that’s a great door to get me to being an actual teacher.”

Working with students also shifted Hernandez’s confidence in science instruction.

“I had never been a science person, but working here has allowed me to learn so much about it. The more that I work here, the more it’s easier for me to see how I could incorporate it in an everyday classroom,” Hernandez said.

Jamie Viveros, Senior Director of STEAM and Expanded Learning at KCSOS, said the program’s impact on future educators has become one of its most meaningful outcomes.

“Their experience here with us has been an eye opener to STEAM, because they were never exposed to it during their schooling, so this has been a transition for some of them,” Viveros explained.

Jessianne Solis has supported the KCSOS STEAM Summer Camp since its second year.

Jessianne Solis started as a mentor with STEAM Summer Camp in its second year at CALM. During that time, she competed as a collegiate track and field athlete, and explored teaching and athletic coaching as a career. She built experience in the classroom with each summer that she returned to work as a mentor.

STEAM Summer Camp has since grown into a six-week summer experience serving approximately 6,000 students at multiple sites, including schools in McFarland and Mojave. The mentor team expanded from 24 to more than 130 mentors.

Today, Solis works as a STEAM Yard Director, a second-year Moderate-Severe Special Education teacher, and track and field coach at Highland High School. Witnessing moments of student growth continues to inspire her work in education.

Building on the success of students discovering the magic of the STEAM Yard and mentors preparing to lead classrooms of their own, KCSOS is now reaching students earlier by creating pathways for high school students interested in education careers.

Through a partnership between KCSOS’s College and Career Programs, Kern Regional K-16 Education Collaborative, and the UCLA School of Education & Information Studies, KCSOS offers high school juniors and seniors the Kern-UCLA Future Educators Pathway Program STEAM Summer Externship.

Now in its second year, the program rotates mentors through the STEAM Yard, CALM, and the Kern County Museum, where they shadow educators, assist with classroom activities, help maintain learning spaces, and earn free UCLA college credit by completing the online course Education 10.

“It’s going to be really interesting in the next couple years to find mentors all over Kern County and see how those teachers can help schools incorporate STEAM more into their programming,” Viveros said.