Snead State Summer Camps Give Students Unique Opportunities

Students participating in the Advanced Manufacturing summer camp at Snead State Community College toured TS Tech in Boaz to see how the principles they learned during the summer camp were put into practice in the work place.

July 15, 2008
From learning how a robot works to testing their own DNA, local students have received unique opportunities through two summer camps held at Snead State Community College.

Snead State, in partnership with the Workforce Alabama Inc. and Wallace State Community College in Hanceville, conducted an Advanced Manufacturing summer camp on July 7-10. This week, the groups will sponsor a Biotechnology summer camp, which began Monday, July 14, and will continue through Thursday, July 17.

“The purpose of the summer camps is to get high school students interested in high growth/high wage career fields. Biotech and Advanced Manufacturing are two of the hottest career professions in Alabama,” said Workforce Development Director Greg Randall.

During the Advanced Manufacturing summer camp, students learned about robotics, control systems, and programmable logic. Snead State Electronic Engineering Technology Instructor Mike White led the summer camp sessions. The camp also featured field trips to local industries TS Tech and Federal Mogul, so students could see what they learned put into action in the workplace.

The session during the Biotech camp will be led by Mylina Dillard of Asbury High School and Dr. Neil Lamb with the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. On Monday, July 14, and Tuesday, July 15, from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., students will conduct hands-on experiments including testing their own DNA. On Wednesday, July 16, they will travel to Wallace-Hanceville to visit the criminalistics program at the college. On Thursday, July 18, the students will tour HudsonAlpha in Huntsville.

“We couldn’t have conducted the camps this year without the help of John Marshall with Workforce Alabama, our instructors Mr. White and Ms. Dillard, our industry partners TS Tech and Federal Mogul, Wallace State, and Dr. Lamb with HudsonAlpha. The experiences the students have had at these camps are once-in-a-lifetime opportunities,” said Mr. Randall.

The summer camps were funded through the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Division.