This spring and summer, the Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) of Montgomery County is starting its first venture into Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) camps for the children and youth of HOC participants as a part of the agency’s new educational initiative, HOC Academy. For many decades, HOC has assisted low-income families in a myriad of ways. Now, we are widening our attention to focus on the education of the children and youth of the families that we serve. Our exploration camps offer an opportunity for typically underserved-children to experience a top-notch introduction into the world of STEAM. Unfortunately, low-income communities are often left out of the technology wave and it is our mission to expose HOC’s children and youth to the infinite possibilities of STEAM. So, we are excited to present our STEAM/Uplift and Lego Robotics Camps for the summer!

From June 29th-August 21st our STEAM/Uplift camp will serve residents ages 10-17 to learn computer programming, computer animation, drawing and game design. Uplift is a premier DC based non-profit organization that provides students with amazing resources and opportunities to learn science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics, and computer science. This two month camp will take place at HOC's own, Tanglewood Apartments in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Additionally, we’ve partnered with world renown Junior First Lego League (JrFLL) to provide two sessions of a two week Lego Robotics camp. JrFll aims to capture young children’s inherent curiosity and directs it towards discovering the wonders of science and technology—all while utilizing Lego products that children seem to love! This Lego Robotics camp is designed for students grades K-8 and will focus on engineering, robotics, and computer programming. Upon completion, participants will be eligible to compete in a national JrFLL competition based on their creations. Session one will be July 6th-17th at the Seneca Ridge Apartments in Germantown, Maryland. The second session will be July 20th-31st at Towne Center Place in Olney, Maryland.

As a part of the launch of HOC Academy’s first ever venture into Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEaM) camps for children, a logo contest was held in order to allow HOC youth to express their creativity in order to create a logo that would capture the vision of the program.

The winner of the logo contest is 7th grader Fulan Herrod of in Towne Centre Place. HOC has used his original work to create the official logo for HOC STEaM camps.

Congratulations Fulan!