MISSISSIPPI STATE – A popular summer camp will serve double the number of children this year as the Mississippi State University Extension Service launches its Summer of Innovation.

The Extension Center for Technology Outreach, formerly known as Computer Applications and Services, received funding from NASA for the Summer of Innovation program for the second time. This series of camps is designed to inspire young people to engage in science, technology, engineering and math projects and to learn the fundamentals of rocketry.

Mariah Smith, an assistant Extension professor in the Extension Center for Technology Outreach, said funding for this national grant is highly competitive.

“Based on the success of last year’s program and our ability to reach 650 youth, we received grant funds allowing us to expand the Summer of Innovation,” Smith said. “We hope to reach 1,200 children.”

Activities include more than 20 hours of hands-on activities such as building a spacecraft model, making clouds, creating a Kepler star wheel and constructing Rocket Racers.

Interested youth can sign up in their participating counties by calling their local Extension office. Children do not have to be members of 4-H to participate. The program is free.

NASA Summer of Innovation programs will be held in the following counties: Attala, Caroll, Chickasaw, Clay, DeSoto, Forrest, Franklin, Grenada, Hancock, Harrison, Itawamba, Jackson, Jefferson, Jefferson Davis, Leflore, Lowndes, Madison, Newton, Oktibbeha, Panola, Prentiss, Tunica, Washington, Webster and Winston.