The College of Communication and Information (CCI) has just finished its 7th year of iCamp, where 25 local high school students participated in four weeks of computing and technology-based learning and activities. 
The college teamed up with the US Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) and the National Technology Student Association (TSA) to create FSU iCamp in 2018, in efforts to provide pre-collegiate summer opportunities for local students and create a pipeline to FSU. The camp is reviewed annually by AEOP, and FSU has always exceeded expectations, continuously receiving funding.
Over the course of the four weeks, different topics were covered where the local high school students with an interest in STEM fields learn, engage, and participate in different activities and projects. This year, students learned coding with Python, Game Design, Graphic Design, and Data Mining/Research.
Ebe Randeree and Dr. Faye Jones have been co-directors of the camp since the beginning, seven years ago. Each week, a topic is taught by a different person in that specific field of learning. Randeree and Jones co-taught week four, Data Mining/Research. 
Randeree has been coordinated K-12 outreach across the state. He stated that “this is an incredible opportunity for local high school students; students are recommended by their teachers to the camp organizers. The College has built partnerships with local K-12 schools as well as engaged local schools through STEM outreach, on campus tours, and STEM fairs.”
The camp, however, goes beyond the four topics being taught each week. Students get to experience what college life is like by eating at the Suwanee dining hall, exploring new technologies at the Innovation Hub, and meeting at the career center liaison to go over prepping for future jobs. Students also got the chance to engage with weekly guest speakers from the industry.
“I made some new friends along the way which was great. The walking was some nice exercise and there were a lot of moments that were very laughable,” iCamper Syann Gambles said. “Every day is leg day.”
According to Dr. Jomes, “Over 95 percent of the students go to college, 80 percent have an interest in STEM, and many even come back to share and help as ambassadors.”
iCamp high school senior Malik Gambles shared, “Overall, iCamp was really fun, informative, tons of creativity, and had great instructors with great skill. Serious talks about AI and our futures were very insightful. It helped me decide what I want to do on my life path.”
“iCamp has been an incredible opportunity; it has given me the confidence to pursue leadership roles in and out of the classroom and because of my experiences there I feel myself gravitating towards those roles, whereas I wouldn’t have before,” iCamp student Sarah Woods said. “I am truly grateful to be a part of such an amazing program.”
“iCamp was a great opportunity to learn new skills that seemed foreign to me at first,” iCamp student Heaven Travis said. “As the weeks went by, I was able to watch my progress, along with the progress of my peers, and realize that what I didn’t know at the start of each week became something that I felt more familiar and comfortable with by the end of each day.”