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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?’”
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