It all adds up to a great experience! Vermont EPSCoR and the Governor's Institutes of Vermont (GIV) teamed up to strengthen workforce development efforts among Vermont high school students with an amazing summer camp opportunity! GIV hosted two, week-long institutes in July 2025 which brought 10th, 11th, and 12th graders from across Vermont together for a week of learning. The Technology and Design Institute was completed by 66 high school students, while 37 completed the Kenneth I. Gross and Anthony Trono Institute on Mathematical Sciences.

SOCKS Co-PI, Chris Danforth, PhD volunteered his expertise as an instructor for the Mathematical Sciences Institute, presenting "The Mathematics of Prediction." This session taught students about modeling chaotic physical phenomena using mathematics.

Slade Smith, from U-32 High School, participated in the Mathematics Institute, had this to say about the experience: "I was able to meet a lot of cool new people during my time at the Governor's Institute, especially during the career panel. I was able to learn a lot about what I can do with math in the future, and all the opportunities that are out there for people interested in STEM. I already knew I was interested in engineering but being able to learn about all the cool stuff you can do as an engineer makes me even more excited to pursue this as a major in college."

Returning student, Max Goodfellow, from Middlebury High School, had this to say about his second time at the Technology and Design Institute: "At Technology & Design 2024, I was introduced to computer programming, and in that week and a half, I made a fully functional Blackjack game. It also made me realize that I wanted to pursue a degree in computer science. When GIV applications opened for 2025, there was no doubt in my mind that I would be back at Champlain College in the summer. My second time at GIV I enjoyed even more than my first. I was given the opportunity by Shannon and Liz, co-directors of Tech & Design, to teach a short introductory class about Python. During that class, I had a (second!) realization about what I wanted to do in my future; I love teaching people and seeing their faces light up when they finally get why- something like programming- is so important and useful. Without the opportunities given to me by GIV, I’m not sure if I would have figured out that I’m so interested in these things until much later in life."

More information about GIV and its summer institutes can be found at giv.org.