BRIDGTON, ME – “Wish we could be kids again so we could come to Camp Invention!”

This was a comment heard at Stevens Brook Elementary School from the adults standing around the playing field, watching the kids hover around inventor, Frank Howell. Frank had brought a drone to demonstrate the fun of inventions. 

Camp Invention®, a program of the National Inventors Hall of Fame®, is a week-long summer camp for children in grades K-6^th. A new curriculum is developed every year with stimulating, customized activities that are child-centered and focused on creative thinking. This is the fourth year Camp Invention® has been held at Stevens Brook Elementary School. When the camp was first held, there were 25 campers. This year, 77 participated! With only four other Camp Invention® programs in the State of Maine, Bridgton is fortunate to have been selected as one of the locations.

Every year, the Rufus Porter Museum of Art and Ingenuity has provided scholarships for at least 15 students. This year the scholarship fund was augmented by monies from the Brick & Beam Society, the Agnes M. Lindsay Trust, scholarships donated in honor of Cheryl Turpin [retiring SBES principal], county CDBC funding, and private donors. With all these scholarships, the hope is that “no child will be left behind.”         

PHOTO TEXT:  Camp Invention® participants, with Frank Howell, at Stevens Brook Elementary School, July 2021

Founded in 2005, the Rufus Porter Museum of Art and Ingenuity, located in Bridgton, Maine, features the history of a remarkable 19th century New Englander, Rufus Porter (1792-1884). Porter is well-known in the folk art community for his landscape murals and miniature portraits, however, Porter was more than just a painter. He was the founding publisher and editor of the magazine Scientific American as well as inventor, writer, teacher, and more. The museum is dedicated to capturing and sharing with the public Porter’s uniquely American blend of creativity, ingenuity, practicality, and energy by exploring the world and era in which he lived and worked.