Prince Edward County High School freshman Abbigail Moore, 14, of Phenix, participated in the Building Leaders for Advancing Science and Technology, (BLAST) program at Virginia Tech (VT) from July 23-26.

The program provided a series of innovative hands-on sessions led by faculty and staff designed to spark interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) opportunities, according to the program’s website.

According to Moore, the camp included projects and fun activities like turning pennies into gold, working with robotics and 3-D printing. She said the program was for rising ninth- and 10th-grade students.

“It actually taught me a lot of stuff and we went over a bunch of physics that we went over in eighth grade,” Moore said, “and it kind of refreshed my memory and we learned a lot of new information on like technology and science.”

She said if she had the chance to attend again, she’d do it again, but that students can only participate in the BLAST program one time.

Moore said the application process included answering questions about how she felt about science, technology, engineering and math.

“You had to write an 800-word essay and you had to answer about what college you wanted to go to because you could pick from (VT), (University of Virginia) and (Old Dominion University) and you had to attach your report card,” Moore said.

According to the BLAST program’s website, the program is a partnership between the Virginia Space Consortium, Old Dominion University, VT and University of Virginia.

Moore said following her high-school career, she’d like to go to Alabama to play volleyball before attending Duke University School of Medicine to become an orthopedist.

“We had no idea she was going to get it, although she’s a very smart and bright child,” said Margaret Moore, Abbigail’s grandmother.