YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - It's summer camp season, from basketball camps to vacation bible school to STEM Camp this week in Youngstown; a chance for students to build their own computers.

All week long, a room full of kids at Youngstown's Lewis Center pounded away on keyboards connected to tiny little computers they built themselves.

"What they've actually done is built a microcomputer on a breadboard from the processor up, so they've done all the wiring, all of the electronics, put all of the components into the board piece by piece," said Dr. Joshua Reichard, the VP of Academic Affairs for Valley Christian Schools.

It's a retro design that took them from square one to writing code in just a couple days, sparking a world of possibilities for kids that aren't even in high school yet.

"This is effectively an eight-bit computer that they're building. I think there's something pure and innocent about those old machines, uncluttered by the internet and social media that lets kids get a little closer to the metal," said Dr. Reichard.

"The most fun part about building something like this is getting to see what they can do, getting to see how much you can accomplish with just such a small little thing," said Elion Oliver, a 9th grader from Boardman.

"At first I was totally confused. You have these wires, you plug it in and the screen is magically supposed to turn on. But now I'm like, 'Oh my God that's so cool' and then you can make music on it," said Owen Schwendeman from Boardman.

Even simple things took a little getting used to, like the fact that you can't just charge it and carry it wherever you want.

"We have to plug this into a wall and everything for it to work, like right now the screen's just blank," said Evan Stambaugh, a 4th grader from Columbiana.

Obviously, technology-wise there's quite a bit of a difference between these minicomputers and today's smartphone, but least for one week with these kids the old-school technology is winning out.

"They're having so much fun building these little circuits, looking at this little processor with this tiny little screen, they haven't touched their cell phones," said Dr. Reichard.

"On a phone, you just see the screen. You don't get to see everything that's in it or you don't get to build it yourself," said Sophia Stambaugh, an 8th grader from Columbiana.

That's the great discovery in a camp like this, finding out how it all works and maybe sparking a love for computers no matter how small.

Dr. Reichard's daughter Olivia actually helped make this first-year camp a reality, putting together all the kits to build.

Valley Christian's Lewis Center is also hosting a "History of the Personal Computer" exhibit today from 10 a.m. until noon. You can find it at the Lewis Center, located at 30 W. Front St. in Youngstown.