ANN ARBOR, MI — Andi Sperry doesn’t sugarcoat her expectations to the campers at the start of the STEM Innovation Summer Camps she helps run.
“When students come, the first thing that I like to tell them is, ‘Hi, My name is Ms. Andi, and I want you to fail,’” said Sperry, the founder of Future Innovators Academy in Ann Arbor. “And what I love about that is that they’re so taken aback.”
The former NASA engineer understands students are taught to do well on tests or other activities in school and in life. That doesn’t apply to the academy workshops and camps Sperry organizes for children and young adults ages 4 to 18. “We want you to break things. We want you to learn through failure, because that’s how you grow,” she said last week, as the science, technology, engineering and mathematics camp was in its second week…