Engineering summer camps at Fresno State began in 2010 with just 20 high school students. Maldonado said the lack of engineering pathways programs in high schools at the time sparked the creation of the camps. 

A middle school session was soon added and in 2021, the camps expanded to include sessions for elementary school students. Over the years, enrollment has grown to reach a maximum capacity of 42 students per session with waiting lists of up to 20 students. 

This year’s summer camp brought students from as far as San Diego, Riverside and the Bay area to the Valley. 

“We get a lot of great feedback from the students and their parents, and we have had many students who are excited to come back and participate multiple times,” said Maldonado. “We also always get a good number of students from the camps that end up enrolling and being part of the Lyles College of Engineering, so that's really exciting because we're seeing that it's making an impact, and it's actually producing students for our college.”

Maldonado works closely with Lyles College faculty to develop camp activities that incorporate current hot topics such as cybersecurity, aerospace, automotive engineering and structural activities. This year’s camp included a field trip to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Whether it’s something completely new or something they’ve seen on TV, Maldonado aims to keep it exciting for the students. He said the Fresno State student facilitators also play a key role in the camps because they bond with the K-12 students and share what college life is like. 

Yue Yang is an international student from China who is pursuing a master's degree in electrical and computer engineering. She decided to be a facilitator for this year’s camp as a way to give back to the college for helping her grow professionally and personally. 

“This college is the best decision I made to start my engineering journey as an individual with a limited background in this country,” said Yang. “I want to give back and I hope more and more young generations are interested in studying technologies and engineering at Fresno State.”

Yang noted that some students did not want to leave at the end of the camp, which she believes demonstrates that the camp was unforgettable and fun for them. 

She said that not only did they gain engineering skills, but they also learned how to respect others, how to communicate with their teammates, how to react when they failed competitions and how to figure out better solutions for their designs.