Shelby Koenig Attends Academy of Excellence Camp
June 26, 2009
Shelby Koenig, a soon to be junior at Freeman High School, was one of forty students selected to attend the 11th annual Academy of Excellence. The academy selects forty of the best academic students in the state.
The Peter Kewit Institute in Omaha, Nebraska sponsors the Academy each year. According the Peter Kewit Institute’s website, “This week long program is designed to bring the brightest and most promising high school sophomores to Omaha for hands-on exploration of information science, technology and engineering disciplines”.
Koenig spent most of the morning in class sessions. These sessions covered a broad scope of math, science, and engineering. The topics were bioinformatics (genetics), virtual collaboration, virtual animation, information assurance, architectural engineering, construction systems, electrical engineering, and civil engineering.
Each evening the academy planned an activity. Koenig went to the Henry Doorly Zoo where she had a behind the scenes look at the zoo. She had the opportunity to meet some of the animals (aardvark, bats, opossum, and a penguin) and learned more about how the zoo operates. The night was concluded with an IMAX showing of Under the Sea 3D and a private viewing of the zoo’s jungle display.
The next three nights included trips to the Strategic Air and Space Command Museum, Skate Daze, and Durham Museum. Both of the museums were closed to the public, which gave the students full reign of the museums.
The week long camp ended with a formal lunch with award presentations throughout the week.
Koenig said, “I would recommend this camp to anyone in the
future. It gave me a chance to further explore my college
options that I would like to pursue in the future. I really
enjoyed the bioinformatics session along with soldering a circuit
board to make a simple electronic counter.”
Shelby Koenig is the daughter of Rick and Mary Koenig of Adams, Nebraska.
