Camps give middle school students taste of industry

COLUMBUS - Middle school-aged students were introduced to the skills they may use in their future careers.

About 20 students from the area took part in a manufacturing camp at Central Community College-Columbus Monday and Tuesday. They received hands-on experience in using computer programs, machinery and used their own imaginations to create manufactured aluminum medallions.

This was the second year of the camp. The purpose of the two-day camp is to expose students to the reality that is manufacturing, said Renee DeWyke, drafting instructor at the college.

“When you think of going over to work in a machine shop, you think it is a dirty, grimy job. It's not that anymore,” DeWyke said.

Much of what is done in manufacturing is done with technology such as computers, DeWyke said.

“We want kids to be aware of that,” she said.

Kelly Loschen, industrial technology instructor at Columbus Middle School, said it is important for students to get familiar with skills that are needed in industrial careers. That is one reason, he said, the industrial technology course at the middle school will be moving more towards career technology.

“It will give them an opportunity to see what they can do in the future,” Loschen said.

Opening doors for their future was a reason some of the students decided to take part in the two-day camp.

Columbus Middle School eighth-grader Brandon Ballentine said he wants to be an engineer and learned how much technology is used in manufacturing. He, along with two other students, Ethan Martensen and Grant Jirka, both eighth-graders at CMS, were using AutoCAD at the camp to draw a design for a medallion. The drawing was then converted to machine language to be read and produced by a computer numerical controlled mill.

The manufacturing camp wasn't the only event being held at the college exposing students to career options. CyberCamp4Girls kicked-off Tuesday. The camp, in its third year, is designed to get high school girls interested in technology, said Brenda Licari, information technology instructor at the college.

“Statistics show that the number of girls in the science and technology areas is in decline. There is a real need for them in technology. It's not just in Nebraska. It is all across the nation,” Licari said.

At the camp, the students learn about digital photography, programming, flash animation, Web sites, software and designing games. The camp was conducted at all three Central Community College campuses - Columbus, Grand Island and Hastings.

About 25 girls were expected to participate. There were three at the one held in Columbus.

Jody Wendt, a junior from Leigh, was one of them. This was her second year taking part in the camp. She said technology is a career she is considering going into and has already used a lot of the information she learned at last year's camp to help create her school's Web site.

Both of the camps were funded through grants. The manufacturing camp was possible through a grant from Nebraska Future Force, and the CyberCamp4Girls was through a Perkins grant from the Nebraska Department of Education.