Building Future Innovators: Hot Rod STEM Camp Announced for Fountain Inn High School

High-octane engineering and hands-on robotics are headed to Fountain Inn this summer as registration officially builds momentum for a popular local youth program.

Award-winning regional FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Teams 4451 (“ROBOTZ Garage”) and 4864 (“INNovation Station”) have partnered to host the 2026 Hot Rod STEM Camp. The four-day summer enrichment experience is scheduled for Monday, July 13 through Thursday, July 16, 2026, operating daily from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Fountain Inn High School, located at 644 Quillen Ave.

The camp is specifically tailored for rising 3rd through 8th-grade students from across the Upstate. Moving past traditional classroom instruction, the program places campers into active “pit crews” where they work directly with high school robotics veterans and technical mentors to explore the core pillars of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).

This year’s theme, “INNdependence 250: American Innovators,” adds a unique historical twist to the technical curriculum, celebrating America’s 250th birthday by highlighting foundational inventions—ranging from the lightbulb and the telephone to flight and modern assembly—while challenging students to engineer their own automated solutions.

Daily activities will immerse campers in:

• Robotics & Mechanics: Navigating real, full-scale competition robots and learning basic drivetrain configurations.

• Structural Design: Understanding the physics of torque, gear ratios, and aerodynamics under real-world constraints.

• Coding Concepts: Introduction to the basic logic and software principles that bring heavy machinery to life.

“It’s about sparking that initial curiosity where students realize the math they see on a whiteboard is the exact same tool used to make a vehicle move or a robot function,” organizers shared in a community update.

To keep the program accessible, a tiered registration and pricing structure is being utilized for local families:

• Single Camper: $100.00

• Sibling Discount Bundle: $150.00 (Covers one camper plus one sibling)

• School District Discount: $75.00 (Exclusively for children of Greenville County Schools employees)

With registration numbers already quickly rising past 30 campers within the first few hours of opening, organizers warn that slots are highly restricted to guarantee adequate lab space and individual equipment time for each student. Parents can secure their child’s spot or find more enrollment guidelines online by scanning the official registration QR code via the FRC Team 4451 portal on MySchoolBucks.