Step Beyond

At Camp Emerson, our bright, motivated campers are interested in many different activities. They like hands-on, intellectual challenges too but they don’t want it to feel like school.

The Step Beyond activities grew out of our desire to satisfy these interests and to spark new ones. We think you will find many challenging classes in this list of Step Beyond activities. Mix and match them into your schedule with all of the other areas and create a schedule as unique as you are!

CO2 Race Cars
Imagine creating a pine wood derby car and then attaching a jet engine to it. That is what you get with this cool class. Design, build & race your own metric dragster out of a 12” block of wood. The counselors will work with you to carve it and spec it. Older campers will be trained to use the band saw and dremels themselves. Then race your design on our 50 foot computerized track and see where your car ranks. What kind of awesome speedster you can create?

Cooking
Develop your culinary skills with this hands-on and delicious activity. We cover kitchen skills and various cooking and baking techniques. Prepare a variety of dishes including desserts, soups, main courses, and sauces. You’ll be trained by our professional chefs and, yes, you get to eat what you make! You won’t find any mixes here. Learn how to cook from scratch and take your cookbook home and amaze your family.

Engineering
You love LEGO®s and you’ve built tons of the stuff. Now what? Take your building skills to the next level in this inventive class. Build engineer-designed projects such as boats, bridges, mazes and cars. The climax is the annual Pirate Battle on Lake Emerson and see if your catapult, canon and shield will withstand the barrage of water balloons.

Rocketry
Doesn’t everyone want to go into space? Rocketry is a major favorite at Emerson with girls and boys of all ages! It’s part engineering and part craft. You will construct and build your own propulsion rocket. There are many, many kits to pick from level 1 and up. We launch every few days and you will be taking your rockets home to show off.

Science
Have you ever wanted to mix different liquids and powders together to see what happens? We’ll go well beyond home science kits and explore chemistry and physics principles. In past summers, we have built Rube Goldberg machines & chocolate factories, verified the principles of gravity, and examined crime scenes, tested science facts & myths and more. Bring your questions and ideas!

Here are some pictures from our Step Beyond Department