KALAMAZOO – Because an overwhelming majority of the 23 participants called a one-week summer camp in manufacturing in 2007 “awesome” and “pretty cool,” Kalamazoo Valley Community College is planning a second edition.
Once again, designing a radio-controlled, scale-model car, fabricating its components, and assembling them into a finished product to be test-driven and raced will be the capstone activities of ?Steel My Summer II,? a summer camp for youths interested in careers in manufacturing.
Funded by a $5,000 grant from the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Foundation, ?Steel My Summer? will convene the week of June 23-27 on the Texas Township Campus.
Over that five-day period, students ages 12 to 16 will engage in hands-on, interactive pursuits that expose them to the advanced technologies required in today?s manufacturing. In addition to the cars they build, campers will take home a ?Steel My Summer? T-shirt.
Manufacturers will add to the experience by hosting field trips and by providing speakers who will discuss employment opportunities that are on the horizon as the current generation of high-tech machinists nears retirement.
The prime message will be the excitement of conceiving and crafting valuable products through the optimum use of technical and human resources.
Partnering with KVCC?s technical programs in sponsoring ?Steel My Summer? are the Education for Employment (EFE) consortium and the Kalamazoo YWCA?s TechGYRLS and mentoring programs.
The camp fee for each participant will be $60. Some scholarships are available through the grant. Eligible are youths who attend the 10 K-12 school systems that are in KVCC?s in-district boundaries, who attend parochial and private schools located in Kalamazoo County, or who reside in Kalamazoo County.
Attendees will be introduced to computer basics, learn about computer-assisted design, drafting and manufacturing, be schooled in fabrication, metal-shearing and assembly processes, and have the opportunity to talk with manufacturing practitioners. The campers will be machining many of the key parts they will use in making their cars.
They will receive up-close looks and demonstrations of the college?s instructional programs in welding, machining, drafting, material science, automotive technology, electrical technology, and heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
The camp director will be Howard Carpenter, a KVCC instructor in materials science and machine-tool technology.
For more information about the camp, email email [email protected]
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