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YSU Summer Honors Institute gives taste of campus life
Photo
David Irwin, 17, of McDonald measures a potato before placing it in the cannon.
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
It’s been nearly a decade since Youngstown State University began hosting events that over the years have evolved into the annual Summer Honors Institute Week for selected high-schoolers.
“The purpose of the institute is to give high-schoolers who have been identified as talented and gifted the opportunity to come to YSU so they might see what it is like to be on a college campus and to also experience a different type of learning environment than they are used to,” said Doug Price, associate professor of chemical engineering and one of the institute’s program coordinators.
Some 70 students from area high schools are participating in the weeklong event, which runs until Friday. Participants spend the week in various classes and activities such as musical theater, acting, entrepreneurship, potato cannon, engineering, crime-scene investigation and finance.
The only cost for the institute is $75, which covers student lunches throughout the week.
In addition to experiencing classes and activities, for an additional $350, students also had the option of residing on campus to get the full effect.On Wednesday, despite rain clouds, students participating in the chemistry and physics project gathered just outside Cushwa Hall to continue their experimental work with potato cannons. The group used a high-speed camera to determine the velocity at which potatoes shot out of homemade cannons that
were created using pipes, fuel and a valve.
Justin Oaks, a 16-year-old from Ursuline, said that firing the cannon was his favorite part of the week so far. “It is fun to watch the potatoes splatter against the wall,” he said.
Standing by his side was Ian Hanes, a 17-year-old senior from Western Reserve, who also was helping to take turns manning the cannon. Hanes said he attended the event last year and was glad to be back.
“The first day was a little rough because you have to go over everything, but shooting the cannons is the best part. I understand more by being back a second time,” he said — noting he’d definitely recommend participating the institute.
Price said that in his 10 years of teaching the potato-cannon project there has never been an injury. “We really stress the safety,” he said.
On Friday, the students from each of the groups will present video presentations of what they have learned from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Chestnut Room of Kicawley Center.