Thirty-two rising eighth-grade students in Florence School District 1 are participating in Florence-Darlington Technical College’s first “Manufacturing: The Future” day camp designed to engage students in the areas of math, science, technology and manufacturing.
Crishell Bass, the camp’s director, said the students have participated in a variety of fun and educational activities during the camp at the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology (SiMT).
Bass said WorkKeys, a national job skills assessment system measuring “real world” skills that employers think are critical for job success, was used at the beginning of the camp to determine their level of skill attained in a specific skill area.
That information was used to pair students with daily science, technology or math projects.
Some projects included designing a roller coaster and used Computer Aided Design (CAD) software to design rims for a remote-controlled car.
The students designed the rims, while David Griffin, associate director of SiMT’s Manufacturing Technology, used the CAD software to bring their designs “to life,” Bass said.
Representatives from such local businesses and industries as Progress Energy visited with the students to teach them how the skills taught in the classroom can be applied to real jobs after high school.
Bass said one of the camp’s goals is to build a connection between the classroom and manufacturing, which is part of the 16 career clusters created by the Education and Economic Develop Act (EEDA) Personal Pathways to Success.
“I think they got more out of the project because everything was hands-on,” Bass said. “(They) could see why math, science and technology is so important.”
Bass said she will visit the camp’s participants during the school year when they begin their Individual Graduation Plans, which is required by Personal Pathways, to see if the camp influenced any students to pick careers in manufacturing, science, technology or math.
The EEDA is designed to give all students across the state the tools they need to make productive career plans starting in the eighth grade. The act established Pathways to help students and businesses work together to ensure that students receive the guidance and experience they will need once they complete high school.
A graduation ceremony will be at 11:45 a.m. Thursday at SiMT. The participants will present their projects to business and industry partners of the camp.
The camp was sponsored by United Way of Florence County, the city of Florence, ESAB Welding and Cutting Products and the Florence Rotary Club.
On the Web
Florence-Darlington Technical College, www.fdtc.edu
Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology, www.simt.com
Personal Pathways to Success, www.scpathways.org
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement