In June 2007, Missouri Science & Technology (formally UMR) successfully held its 5th and 6th Explosives Summer Camps. The camps offer a smorgasbord of explosives activities to junior and senior high school students, and with substantial industry participation, have been an outstanding success with both the students and their parents. They have also spawned a large amount of local, state and national media attention, including National Public Radio (NPR) and an article in the New York Times. The failure to sustain strong enrollment numbers has resulted in the demise of roughly half of the mining engineering programs in the U.S. in the last 25 years, at a point when an estimated 5,000 engineers are due to retire from the mining industry over the next decade, with less than 150 mining graduates per year nationally. This paper not only details the make up of the camp and the rational behind it, but also discusses the pros and cons of holding the explosives camp, the associated media coverage and the concept of increased public awareness for the explosives and mining industries.