A summer camp education

GASTON — The smells of sawdust and peanut butter mixed with the sounds

of band saws and video games filled the halls of Northampton County

High School-West Wednesday, as students from across the Valley gathered

to take part in the school district’s Summer Enrichment Camp.

Now in its third year, the camp offers a choice of six classes —

healthy choices, construction, computer tech engineering (one for high

school and middle school students and one for younger children), video

production and career and college planning. The classes are available

to students from rising third graders to rising high school seniors.

Over four days, the participants get hands-on experience performing

various career-oriented tasks, from building furniture to constructing

computers and learning how to prepare healthy food dishes. The classes

are taught by trained personnel from throughout the school system.

Construction class instructors Bobby Warren and Michael Wallden kept a

close eye on their students as they worked with sanders, routers and

other tools, putting the finishing touches on their projects, which

ranged from footstools and benches to hand-lettered plaques. “I really

like this class,” said Jajuan Williams, 11, as he applied a coat of

gloss to his finished plaque. “You get to use different tools and you

can come up with your own ideas.”

“You’ve got to be careful, but it’s fun,” said Williams’ classmate,

10-year-old Shammaed Wright, as he showed off the sanded edges of his

own project.

This year the school system opened the camp up to students from Weldon

and KIPP Pride High School, leading to an influx of applications. “We

had to shut it down and ended up having to turn some students away,”

said Geneva Squire, career and technical education coordinator for

Northampton County Schools, who said the camp was able to accommodate

112 students this year.

Down the hall from the carpenters shop, campers in the healthy choices

class donned their chef hats and worked up an appetite making low fat

macaroni and cheese and Ants on a Log, a sticky concoction of peanut

butter, raisins and celery sticks.

“This is fun because we get to cook stuff, learn about it and then eat

it,” grinned 11-year-old Taria Powell, who said her favorite food, so

far, was the tacos the class prepared Tuesday.

After sampling their food creations, the students headed over to the

healthy choices exercise room, where they took turns playing Wii Fit

and Wii sports games, running in place and gesturing with the hand-held

controllers as their characters matched their movements on the screens.

“They have a ball,” said Health Education Teacher Jerry Squires. “They

get to incorporate exercise with the healthy eating and when they

finish, they can see how many calories they’ve burned.”

In the computer tech room, students were busy sorting through the inner

workings of dismantled computers, reconstructing and labeling the

scattered components laid out like high-tech jigsaw puzzles. “I decided

to take this class because I want to be an engineer in the future,”

offered Markus Barfield, as he ran through a list of the different

computer parts he had learned. “You’ve got the motherboard, the

processor, the modem...”

Recording artist Jus.K made the trip from New York to offer his

knowledge to students in the video production class. While

concentrating mainly on music, the multi-talented artist has gained

considerable editing experience while working on his self-produced

videos. Squire said the students have been compiling footage of the

camp activities for use in a film that will be used for promotion

purposes by the school system. "We hope to eventually have a video and

music studio at both high schools," said Squire. "A lot of our

graduates end up going into those fields once they graduate."

According to Squire, the school system hopes to offer another camp in

July, but is still waiting on the arrival of state funds before making

a final decision. Barring the additional money, Squire said an

educational trip for the students may be possible.

“This camp is extremely important. The kids get to experiment, to get

their hands on the equipment, so when they come in to register they can

be on the right path,” acknowledged Squire, explaining middle school

students aren’t often exposed to career training courses.

“They can come in here and learn without having to worry about EOG or

EOC tests." Squire said the camp also teaches the importance of

teamwork. "Every one of these classes forces the students to work

together for a final product."

While funding restrictions will only allow the school system to hold

the camp every two years, Squire said they are currently seeking grants

to increase the camps size during the next session. Said Squire: “I

enjoy seeing the kids enjoy themselves. I would love to do this every

year, but we'll just have to wait and see."

Squire said the bottom line for both teachers and parents is helping

the students find their place in the workforce of the future. “This is

where the rubber meets the road. This is where we get to see, ‘Can the

kids produce? Can they get the job done?’”