If you asked 11-year-old Olivia Lewis her plans for the summer, she’ll tell you that she just got done making a steel can rover and a balloon-powered mini car. It was all part of a free camp organized by the National Society of Black Engineers during their visit to San Diego, and her mom is pretty excited she heard about it in time.

“My friend sent me an email, and I was really glad I looked at [it] because sometimes you pick and choose,” said LaDreda Lewis, a La Mesa resident and business owner of Sylvan Learning Center, who provided the campers with snacks.

Olivia says she had a blast learning all the ins-and-outs of engineering, the science vocabulary for the projects they completed and what they could do to make a more effective design.

“I want to be professional tennis player and a fashion designer, but I would consider being an engineer,” she said.

So what was her favorite project?

“I liked the steel can rover because it’s easy, and there weren’t a lot of adjustments,” Olvia said. “My group just kind of got it.”

“And they won,” added Lewis as she plays a video of Olivia’s group competing for distance with the gadget. “They were like, ‘Please keep going, keep going.’ It was the cutest thing.”