NILES — Outside Eastside Connections School in Niles last Thursday, sixth through eighth-grade girls flung red liquid at paper.

Inside, small dressed skeletons lay strewn on Eastside Connections School’s lunchroom tables. Near and on the lunchroom stage, the alleged skeletons of Batman and Superman sat slumped in crime scenes.

The skeletons and fake blood splattering were parts of a forensic science program through STEM Camp, an all-girls summer program for middle school Niles students.

Campers used the blood splattering project and small skeletons to learn how to work at a crime scene like a forensic scientist would. Then, the campers worked together to solve a fictional crime involving the deaths of two iconic DC Comics superheroes.

The forensic science topic was part of the week-long camp’s efforts to expose children to the diversity of jobs in science, technology, engineering and math while teaching STEM skills both soft and hard, said Heather Loos, elementary teacher and STEM Camp organizer.

“Rather than doing worksheets, packets, like you typically do in a science class, they’re doing activities every day where they’re using the skills for whatever speaker we might have coming later on in the day,” she said.

Monday featured a meteorologist. Tuesday featured a nurse that works with surgical robotics. Wednesday featured three employees of Palisades Nuclear Plant in Van Buren County. Thursday featured a Michigan State Police officer.

All speakers were women and each spoke about the unique STEM skills their jobs required, often outside the typical assumptions of STEM careers, Loos said.

“What I like about having these women come in and talk to them is the girls really feel comfortable to ask them questions,” she said. “It’s in a small-group setting, and they don’t feel like they’re being judged.”

On Friday, campers went to South Haven to visit members of the Coast Guard. No members in the Van Buren County city were women, Loos said. This emphasized the importance of empowering girls to enter STEM fields, which are typically male-dominated.

“It is female-focused, but it’s not just ‘girl power,’” she said of the camp. “We want to empower them to think differently about their paths in life.”

Loos said each speaker focused on the role they played for their respective employers. Each worked in a STEM field, she said, but each did so in an unconventional way.

“It’s just been really neat to watch all of them go, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize that was a thing,’” said Keera Morton-Hayes, student affairs specialist and camp organizer. “Really, our goal is getting them to understand there are a lot more options than they even realize.”

Morton-Hayes said all campers filled out a pre-camp survey  indicating their career goals. Many cited jobs fields like medicine and programming.

Now, she said, many have left with a host of different job ideas to consider.

Loos said entertainment media can sometimes skew the work that STEM-field employees do. Many people think meteorologists only work on screen or that forensic scientists enter a crime scene without routine, she said, but the people the camp brought in proved otherwise.

“There’s a lot more tracking your data and being specific,” she said. “If you don’t do it, there’s real world consequences.

The speakers, and the camp’s projects, also taught the soft skills of employability, not just the hard skills of STEM work, Loos said. She said she hears time and again the importance of skills like patience, resourcefulness and objectivity from employers.

Interested middle schoolers will have two other opportunities to take part in the free summer program. The camp is funded for another two years through a grant from the Hunter Foundation.

Correction, 10:54 p.m., 8/1/2019: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the foundation that helped fund STEM Camp. The Hunter Foundation is the correct foundation. Leader Publications is happy to correct any additional errors.