Summer Camps
Northwest Tucson Robotics Club is proud to offer summer camps for students grades 7-12. These Camps are 1 week long each and are designed to be hands-on and fun. These Camps are taught by experienced instructors who are passionate about teaching and learning.
✧✧ Summer Camps Flyer ✧✧
Registration
Click the button below to register for Camp!
June 8-12: Coding Camp
This Camp is a thorough introduction to programming with Python.
At this Camp, the student will learn about:
- how to setup the Python environment.
- how to use Jupyter notebooks
- variables and data types
- lists, tuples, dictionaries, sets, and when and where to use them
- functions, methods, and classes
- program control, and more!
The capstone of the course will be to develop fully operational, object-oriented application using what the student has learned.
Camp Details
- Date: Mon-Fri, June 8-12, 2026
- Times: 8:00am-12:00pm daily
- Location: Desert Son Community Church, 5250 W Cortaro Farms Rd, Tucson
- Cost: $299 (includes text book; discounts available for multiple students and Camp registrations)
June 15-19: Electronics Camp
This Camp is a hands-on introduction to electronics and microcontrollers.
At this Camp, the student will learn about:
- Basic Electric Measurements & values
- Basic electrical lab equipment (variable power supply, voltmeter, oscilloscope)
- Resistors, capacitors, transistors, LEDs, Relays
- Motor circuits (AC, DC, 3 phase, stepper motor)
- Analog circuits
- Digital circuits
- Sensor circuits
- Microcontrollers: how they work and how to code them
The Camp will include many hands-on activities for the student! The student will build circuits, test them, demonstrate them, and make measurements.
Camp Details
- Date: Mon-Fri, June 15-19, 2026
- Times: 8:00am-12:00pm daily
- Location: Desert Son Community Church, 5250 W Cortaro Farms Rd, Tucson
- Cost: $299 (includes electronics kit for the student; discounts available for multiple students and Camp registrations)
June 22-26: Design & Build Camp
This Camp is a hands-on introduction to CAD design and 3D printing.
At this Camp, the student will learn about: - CAD design with Shapr3D - Tools and techniques we will cover: - Parametric modeling and constraints - Revolve, Rotate, Circular Pattern, Project, Loft, Mirror, Shell, Sweep, Align - Union, Subtract, Intersect, Split - Import/Export of CAD files
The student will design a product, print some parts of it, and assemble it together.
Camp Details
- Date: Mon-Fri, June 22-26, 2026
- Times: 8:00am-12:00pm daily
- Location: Desert Son Community Church, 5250 W Cortaro Farms Rd, Tucson
- Cost: $299 (includes all materials and software required for the course; discounts available for multiple students and Camp registrations)
Camp Instructor Bios
Leigh Elkins
Mrs. Elkins grew up in Virginia. While attending Virginia Tech she also worked internships with NASA Langley. She earned a Bachelors Degree in Engineering (Science and Mechanics) and a Masters Degree in Technology Education. While in college she met and married Kurt, also an engineer. She taught Technology Education in Lowell, MA for one year before having a son and moving to Arizona where a second son joined the family. She had the privilege of homeschooling both of her boys. Over the years she has tutored many students in math as well as taught middle school science, math, and computer science for several co-ops and enrichment centers. She has enjoyed being a mentor for the FIRST Tech Challenge Robotics Team, Testing is Optional, for the last 4 years.
John Harkey
Mr. Harkey earned a BS Electrical Engineering from ASU ('81) and retired after a 41-year career as electrical engineer. Designing and building robots has been a hobby of his for decades and his robots have competed in many competitions, including international competitions. His professional career included working at 3 different companies as an electrical engineer.
He worked at Raytheon in the electrical circuit design department where he designed electronics for many missiles and munitions which included fin controls, guidance control electronics, pyrotechnic electronics, and sensors.
He worked at Honeywell in the electrical circuit design department where he designed electronics for multiple aircraft electronics including jet engine controllers, cabin air pressure controllers, air data computers, and ejection seat sequencers.
He worked at Lockheed Space Systems Division in the electrical circuit design department where he designed electronics on two space satellites and one Space Shuttle payload. His first task as a new hire was to perform circuit analysis on the Hubble telescope.
John Kelly
Mr. Kelly retired from NASA in November 2024 after a 36-year career. He was Deputy Chief of the Space Projects and Partnerships branch at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, where he had worked since 1988, except for a short stint in commercial aerospace in 1996 and a detail assignment to Mojave Air and Space Port in 2013. Mr. Kelly has served in many discipline areas during his career, including, flight controls and flight systems engineering, software engineering, information technology management, and various roles in program and project management.
Mr. Kelly earned a B.S. Aeronautical Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Prescott AZ (1992), and an MBA with IT emphasis from University of La Verne (2008). Mr. Kelly is an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and is a registered Project Management Professional (PMP®, 2007). Mr. Kelly is a Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer (PCEP™ ID: pcfZ.ot3b.bau5)
Mr. Kelly has mentored FIRST Robotics teams since 2008 and is currently a mentor/coach of Testing is Optional (FTC 21579), part of Northwest Tucson Robotics Club, a non-profit organization over which he presides.
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