The City of Niles, in partnership with several individual donors, will be offering scholarships for middle and high school students to participate in the Fort St. Joseph Archaeology summer camp program. Scholarships will be available for income-qualified individuals who live in the City of Niles, which will allow participants to attend at no charge.

With options for many ages, the summer camp will offer a rare opportunity to experience a week in the life of an archaeologist. Participants will be actively involved in excavations, along with all aspects of the dig, including wet screening, artifacts analysis and mapping.

Led by Tim Bober, education instructor at Western Michigan University, participants will spend a week discovering the extensive history of Fort St. Joseph and participating in onsite excavation with opportunities to work alongside university students uncovering the history of the fort.

Camps will meet at the Niles History Center. Transportation will be provided to the dig site.

An approved continuing education program, the Fort St. Joseph Lifelong Learner Camps, are able to offer applicable students three WMU graduate credits; nine state board continuing education units in Michigan; credits for recertification in Illinois and/or credits applicable toward the Professional Growth Plan in Indiana.

The schedule for the 2017 Summer Camp Program is as follows:

• July 17 to 21 — Middle school students grades 6 to 8

• July 24 to 28 — High school students grades 9 to 12

• July 31 to Aug. 4 — Lifelong learners and educators

Students wishing to participate in the summer camp program may download an application from the Niles History Center’s website, nileshistorycenter.org. Call or visit the Niles History Center for more information, or to pick up an application in person. The deadline to apply is June 30. Space is limited. Those interested are encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

The Fort St. Joseph Archaeological Project is a collaboration between Western Michigan University and the City of Niles, with support from the greater community. The Fort St. Joseph Project offers a variety of opportunities for the public to get involved as a means of sharing knowledge about local archaeological investigations and the history of the Niles.

Fort St. Joseph, founded in 1691, was an important French mission, trading post and military garrison until it was abandoned in 1781. During its time, four countries — France, Britain, Spain and America — and multiple Native American Indian tribes, including the Potawatomi, controlled the fort.

In 1998, Niles’ local nonprofit Support the Fort called upon Dr. Michael Nassaney and the anthropology department at Western Michigan University to conduct an investigation to locate Fort St. Joseph. Through the last 19 years, Dr. Nassaney and teams of WMU students have worked to uncover the history of Niles’ Fort St. Joseph in conjunction with WMU’s archaeological field school, which is certified by the Register for Professional Archaeologists.