Photos: Rural students get hands-on learning at Morgridge summer science camp
About two dozen high school juniors from rural school districts, as well as a handful from Milwaukee as a part of the Upward Bound program, participate in a camp meant to give them opportunities for hands-on learning in high-end science labs that they would not get at their own schools on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison.
The camps have gone on for 19 years, providing over 700 students from over 100 Wisconsin schools with lessons from the researchers at the institute and UW-Madison scientists. Three week-long camps are offered each summer.Â
Kellzi Griffin, a junior at Alexander Hamilton High School in Milwaukee as a part of Upward Bound, looks at fruit flies through a microscope at Rural Summer Science Camp on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wi.
Mireya Cueto, a junior at John Edwards High School, puts on her lab coat before a lesson at Rural Summer Science Camp on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wi.
High school students look at fruit flies under microscopes during a lesson at Rural Summer Science Camp on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wi.
Rural Summer Science Camp Director Wes Marner wheels out microscopes on a cart before a lesson on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wi.
From left: Edgar Herrera, Steele Parker and Landon McGuire, all juniors at Darlington Community High School try to find fruit flies with different genetic mutations at Rural Summer Science Camp on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wi.
Deceased fruit flies lay in a Petri dish while students look at them to better understand gene mutations at Rural Summer Science Camp on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wi.
Uw-Madison Post-Doctoral Scientist Dr. Sabi Nagarajan gives a lesson on fruit fly genetics and their similarities to human genetics at Rural Summer Science Camp on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wi.
Kellzi Griffin, a junior at Alexander Hamilton High School in Milwaukee as a part of Upward Bound, looks at fruit flies through a microscope at Rural Summer Science Camp on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wi.
Mireya Cueto, a junior at John Edwards High School, puts on her lab coat before a lesson at Rural Summer Science Camp on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wi.
High school students look at fruit flies under microscopes during a lesson at Rural Summer Science Camp on Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wi.
"We're neighborhood schools and we have been forever. ... Is it time for us to look to interject more choices, more options for families, for children to consider?"
The money through the state Department of Public Instruction comes as fewer and fewer students in Dane County public schools report that they drink or use drugs.
Every student with a GPA that places them in the top 5% or 10% of their class will be eligible, even if more than 5% or 10% of their class qualifies.
