Summer camp at the Fayette County Career and Technical Institute continues with high enrollment
Area students got a taste of possible future careers during the annual summer camp held at the Fayette County Career and Technical Institution.
Justin Grimm, cooperative education coordinator at FCCTI, said the camps, which have been around for more than a decade, provide fun, hands-on activities related to the programs offered at the center.
“It’s a career exploration camp as much as it’s a fun summer camp,” Grimm said.
This year’s options include culinary arts, cosmetology, welding, advanced manufacturing, physical therapy, health occupations, auto body and building construction.
Grimm said the center rotates programs so every year is different, offering eight programs for students in grades 5, 6 and 7. Students pick the top six programs they want for two three-hour sessions per day.
“It’s supposed to be really hands-on, so the students are not coming here to sit down and work out of a book,” Grimm said. “They’ll do age-appropriate, hands-on projects most of the time and then see demonstrations of the actual trades by the trade instructors.”
Projects include assembling a bird house for the building and construction program, or learning how to prepare breakfast for themselves and their family for the culinary arts program.
“We always aim in every program for students to produce something that they can take home as a memory,” Grimm said, adding that they have 200 students registered this year.
He said it’s typical to have current FCCTI students helping out because many of them participated in the camp when they were younger.
“The students make new friends, they’re laughing and having fun and they’re excited when they come in in the morning,” Grimm said, adding that student make friends with students in other districts they otherwise wouldn’t meet.
Grimm said he always receives good feedback from both students and parents.
“Then, a couple years down the line, those students come back,” he said. “So I think we’re doing something right and making an impression on them.”
For students to qualify for the free camp, they must be in the appropriate grade and be students in the institute’s partnering school districts of Uniontown, Laurel Highlands, Albert Gallatin and Brownsville.
“We intend to keep doing every year and make it better every year, and I hope to see everyone in the future,” Grimm said.
This year’s camp ran June 7, 8 and 9.