MECH 2026 will be hosted at Lied STEM Academy – 5350 W Tropical Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV 89130
MECH Workshops are an innovative, new summer program that delivers standards aligned and hands-on engineering instruction to 6th-8th grade CCSD students across six sessions. MECH will familiarize students with equipment that real scientists and engineers use, build technical confidence, and engage in collaborative content that will build a lasting interest in STEM and STEM career paths.
Designed specifically for 6th–8th grade students in the CCSD, MECH Workshops transforms complex STEM concepts into engaging, hands-on learning experiences. By making intimidating subjects approachable and fun, we help students build confidence, curiosity, and a genuine interest in science and engineering.
Workshops will consist of six sessions across six weeks, in which students solve engineering problems of increasing complexity. At the start, we will introduce the foundational concepts and build familiarity with the tools. Building on these concepts, students will analyze engineering problems, prototype solutions, and develop software that will run their systems.
Each week students will be given an engineering challenge that they must solve. They will be guided through a solution by the instructor and will then have time to implement improvements or alterations as they see fit, to highlight the iterative nature of engineering. Emphasis will be placed on design analysis and creative problem-solving. At the end of each week students will have tackled another engineering challenge and developed the skills to integrate more types of hardware with code development, building a workforce relevant skillset.
At the conclusion of the workshop students will be given their instructional kits so that they may continue to pursue their own projects, only now with the tools, confidence, and experience to succeed. All software tools used in MECH will be open source, allowing students to continue to use them at no cost outside of the workshop window.