Senior Elise Davis was selected as one of two students in the state of Kansas to attend the National Youth Science Camp this past summer. Davis’s accomplishment was recognized at the first assembly of the year. 

To be accepted into the camp Davis had to go through an intensive application process.  

“I had to submit my grades and transcripts and then I also had to have a letter of recommendation from one of my teachers.” Davis said. “I chose the director of the CTEC CAPS program, [Tim] Mispagel.” 

Tim Mispagel is a teacher at the Cedar Trails Exploration Center (CTEC). When Davis asked him to write a recommendation, he was more than happy to. 

“I was very open to doing it, I knew that she was a high achieving student, and was really trying to put it out there and take some chances. And she understood that, you know, you’re not going to get anything if you don’t apply to it,” Mispagel said.  “So I’m always more than happy to write a letter of recommendation and just let the students know that just because you get a letter of recommendation from me doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. It’s definitely on the student and their, you know, community service and job experience and all of those things that go together.”

Along with the other application requirements Davis also had to send a letter to the Governor of Kansas, Laura Kelly.

“Governor Kelly looked through everybody’s transcripts and their letters and made a decision based off of that,” Davis said. 

Once she was accepted, Davis started out to West Virginia for a whole month. During this time, Davis participated in many activities including backpacking and outdoor activities, all while learning more and more about the world of STEM.

“[I am mostly] all over, [but] the type of STEM that I focus on is engineering in particular.” Davis said. 

Engineering consists of building machines, buildings and roads. Use of math, science and technology in engineering are needed to help come up with tests to analyze new concepts and structures.

Mispagel also told us that he specializes in engineering along with Davis. “My experience in the STEM field would be the engineering software that I’ve learned and really just rapid prototyping using different pieces of equipment, like vacuum formers, 3d printers, laser cutters, plasma cutters, anything like that, for fabrication’’ Mispagel said. Mispagel and the National Youth Science Camp are giving Davis opportunities for careers and college.

Using this opportunity, Davis is able to have an advantage when applying for jobs and positions that would benefit her throughout her career in STEM.  “The National Youth Science Camp is run by the National Youth Science Academy, which is an internationally recognized program,” Davis saidI “If I put that on my resume, it shows employers that know about it that it’s something that’s really hard to get into, that’s more well known.”

STEM is a huge passion for Davis and she hopes to see more women in STEM which is one of the main reasons she decided to start the Society of Women Engineers club at the school. 

“For a long time, women weren’t really allowed in the field,” Davis said. “I started the Society of Women Engineers club at Mill Valley, because a lot of women don’t have role models to look up to that are in engineering, and so it’s important to [concentrate on] all of the engineering opportunities that I can gain.”