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Many students have written to us about their camp experiences. Here are some excerpts from past years.

Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect coming into this camp, but it has completely blown my mind away. The failure analysis simulation is extremely interesting…
Chris Rotante, Brien McMahon High School, Norwalk, Connecticut, Class of ‘05

I’m doing things here that most people do not do until graduate school…
Greg Durrett, Ithaca High School, Ithaca, New York, Class of ‘05

Working under the geodesic dome was inspiring and enticed me to try my best to learn all that was available to learn. I could not imagine a better setting to hold the camp than in Cleveland at ASM's world headquarters…
Stefan Sabo, Charleroi Area High School, Charleroi, Pennsylvania, Class of ‘05

Mittal Steel - Very HOT. Liquid nitrogen. Insanely COLD. Both were awesome!
Risha Bera, Centennial High School, Corona California, Class of ‘05

You can read the rest of their notes, as well as those of their classmates.

And to our graduates – thanks for writing!

Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect coming into this camp, but it has completely blown my mind away. The failure analysis simulation is extremely interesting and I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to take part in it. I have learned how to use and handle very expensive, high-tech equipment, work with others who have the same goals as I do for an engineering career, and expose myself to new ways of thinking and learning. All of the teachers, mentors, and students here are extremely intelligent, hard working, and most importantly, successful. I am having a tremendous time here and will take every opportunity I get to learn something new.
~ Chris Rotante, Brien McMahon High School, Norwalk, Connecticut

This camp has been an incredible opportunity for me. When I got here, I didn’t realize what I was getting into, but now, having almost reached the end, I have gotten to use cutting edge metallography techniques and some of the most advanced equipment in the world for this sort of analysis. The mentors are all-around brilliant people; all of them have huge amounts of knowledge in their respective fields. On top of all that, the failure analysis on an actual problem in cars that our group has been doing is very applicable to real life. As the mentors often say, I’m doing things here that most people do not do until graduate school. All of this in a camp that is FREE is just amazing. I have to extend my thanks to the mentors for donating their time and to the donors for making this camp possible.
~ Greg Durrett, Ithaca High School, Ithaca, New York

Throughout my life I have been fascinated by the world of science, but I had never had the opportunity to be fully immersed in it. This has been an amazing experience, where I have utilized a great variety of equipment in order to solve a failure that occurred to a real-world car maker. We all have worked very hard and the lectures and mentors have guided us in the right path. The faculty in this program is outstanding. I’m very grateful for the time they are taking to teach us what they know. I have learned a lot of new concepts and vocabulary. I also thank all the sponsors that made this camp a reality, and look forward to a career filled with as much excitement as I have experienced here. I would also really enjoy a 2nd Materials Camp.
~ Kenneth David Fernandez Prada, Edgewood Jr/Sr High, Rockledge, Florida

Before going to materials camp, I was nervous about what it was going to be like, and whether it was the right thing to do. When I got here I was amazed to find students and faculty to be nice and smart. This has been a fantastic experience for me; I learned so much about the world of materials in just a week.
~ Greg Anoshkin, Winter Springs High School, Winter Springs, Florida

Being in this camp has given me the experience of working in Materials Science. I have been exposed to some of the basic knowledge my whole life. It was always something I knew, but was never really something I was excited about doing. This camp has made it fun for me. In fact, I am hoping that there will be a follow-up camp next year. Either that, or I would like to be some sort of teacher assistant for next year’s group….I would like to thank everyone who helped out at this camp. I think I may have decided what type of field I would like to go into after college.
~ Amanda B. Winnett, Floyd E. Kellam High School, Virginia Beach, Virginia

First I must say that I am a student that is inspired by the people around me to do better and I have found the harder one pushes the better I will perform. This camp has done an excellent job of pushing me to work harder and faster than I have worked before. This is the biggest compliment a successful camp can get in my opinion, as the students that they have selected are hard-working and dedicated to the task at hand….I am very very grateful for the hard work and effort that has gone into the camp as it will be a camp experience I will never forget.
~ Katie Gilliland, Cazenovia High School, Cazenovia, New York

The classes that were held were very informative and I learned a lot of the finer details of materials chemistry that were skimmed over in the general chemistry classes in school. As many have said before, this camp has been very valuable and has given me a broader view of engineering and my career path through college. The cost to go here was only one week of time, which is as good as it gets for knowledge from experts in their field gets these days.
~ Ben Boeckel, Spring Grove Area High School, York, Pennsylvania

I am very fortunate to have been given an opportunity such as this. Prior to the camp, I had only a relative idea of what materials science was. It seems like a very interesting subject and I am considering pursuing it after high school. The atmosphere here is great -- it couldn’t be more inviting or friendly. The Mentors really make me feel comfortable with everything that we are looking at and it has been a great experience. I’m really glad that I was able to come.
~ Evan Uchaker, Mentor High School, Mentor, Ohio

I felt very appreciative today to have the opportunity to listen to our mentors, among other engineers, speak of their experiences in the workforce. The discussion that took place gave me an understanding of what to expect from pursuing a career in engineering, in a search for my vocation.
~Christina Elias, Bellbrook High School, Dayton, Ohio

Our group improved a lot as we practiced our presentation today. Andy and Debbie watched our presentation and gave us suggestions… This camp was a great experience because it exposed me to materials science and I was able to meet a lot of great people.
~ Molly Eimer, Holy Angels Academy, Williamsville, New York

As I reflect back on my Materials Camp experience I realize that I learned a lot, it was an unforgettable experience. At first I didn’t know what to expect, but after being introduced to all the mentors and people involved with the program it seemed like it was going to be a positive experience. Everybody was willing to help, which made it a good learning environment. I am grateful that I was given this opportunity; it was a great chance to learn about materials science.
~ Madiya “Sunshine” Aziz, Danbury High School, Danbury, Connecticut

This camp was a lot of fun. Today I had the chance to make a key ring at the blacksmith area. It was amazing. One of my favorite parts of materials camp was Mac Louthan’s lecture. It made me think about how ethics and business correlate in our everyday lives. Another lecture I liked was when Dan Dennies told us about failure investigations. If I ever do a failure investigation, I will remember what we learned. All in all, I had a wonderful time. If there is a second-level materials camp, I’d like to go next year.
~ Dan Somrack, Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School, Chardon, Ohio

I was overwhelmed by the multitude of talent, enthusiasm, energy, and most importantly, personality of the Eisenman Materials Camp participants. I was particularly impressed by our materials mentor, Sue Schreiner of Mittal Steel. She would become my greatest teacher in the week ahead. She never gave the group members the answers to our problems - instead, she showed us to apply what we had learned before Materials Camp and during the week to solve new and amazing problems. I learned so many valuable problem-solving skills from Sue that I do not think anyone else could have taught in such a short amount of time. It was more than the content she covered with us, but the work ethic and attitude that she instilled in each one of us.

I enjoyed learning about metals, polymers, ceramics, and composites, as well as how they are used in real-life applications. There were so many new concepts that I learned it would be impossible to list all of them, but I think that the most important thing emphasized in the camp was the process of a failure analysis. Through the failure analysis, I learned how to use a scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. I also acquired skills in metallurgy and light microscopy, ideas that I had never even heard of before coming to Materials Camp.

I found the mentors and master teachers highly knowledgeable, and was amazed by their willingness to explain everything that had seemed foreign to me. If Materials Camp had a sequel, I would definitely come again. I would recommend the program to anyone interested in science and engineering. Hopefully I will work with some of the incredible individuals that I met while attending the camp in the future.

Working under the geodesic dome was inspiring and enticed me to try my best to learn all that was available to learn. I could not imagine a better setting to hold the camp than in Cleveland at ASM's world headquarters. I can't wait to show all of my friends the pictures that I took while at the Eisenman Materials Camp!
~ Stefan Sabo, Charleroi Area High School, Charleroi, Pennsylvania