Students get hands-on lessons at Center for Advanced Technical Studies summer camps
June 17, 2015
CHAPIN, SC – Cassidy Gaillard never imagined she’d be doing “this” during her summer vacation.
“This was fun. I like dissecting, looking through the parts of the heart …the bone, and I also liked dissecting the sheep brain,” said Gaillard, a rising eighth grader at Chapin Middle who wants to become a dentist. “I thought we were just going to take notes and stuff, but this camp was actually really fun. I learned a lot.”
Gaillard was one of more than 40 students participating in a series of camps at Lexington-Richland School District Five’s Center for Advanced Technical Studies June 8-19. Aimed at giving middle school students a glimpse into program offerings at the school, the annual camps include hands-on experiments and one-on-one interaction with high school students and instructors at The Center. This year’s sessions included “Doctors in Training for Girls,” “Future Filmmakers,” and an engineering camp. The camps are open to rising sixth through eighth graders, including those residing outside District Five.
“These are not your typical camps,” said Dr. Al Gates, assistant director for The Center. “We want the camps to be really exciting, learning-filled experiences for these middle school students, growing interest in possible careers. We also want to give them a glimpse at what The Center has to offer so that they leave saying ‘I can’t wait until I get in high school so that I can take that class.’ It’s also a service to parents, looking for something for their middle schoolers to do that’s fun, hands-on and educational.”
Students at Doctors in Training dissected and examined sheep brains, beef eyes and other preserved animal organs. High school students in the biomedical sciences course at The Center also led middle school students through instructional activities and lessons, talking campers through their dissections.
“Students learn some life science and body systems lessons in middle school, but it’s really something we don’t study closely in South Carolina schools,” said Rebecca Howell, a biomedical sciences instructor at The Center. “This camp gives them an advantage and a chance to experiment in an area that they’re interested in and learn a little more about it hands-on.”
Julie Krusen, who is also a biomedical sciences instructor, added: “We wanted this to be fun and something they can learn from, and you can tell they just love it…some are taking it or volunteering for the second year in a row. By the end of the week, we would have dissected organs and learn a little bit more about how the body works. These hands-on lessons help expose them to bioscience and give them a glimpse of classes we offer at The Center.”
Camp fees cover expenses and equipment and also is used to fund student-led research projects and the school’s HOSA club, a student organization for aspiring health care workers, Krusen said. At the filmmaking camp, students used high-tech equipment to learn the fundamentals of video camera focus, levels and balances.
“Most of the students here are interested in filmmaking as a career, so the camps are appealing to them because they want to be creative and learn the technology. Plus, the students actually think it’s a fun thing to do during the summer,” said Ashlon Langley, a media technology instructor at The Center.
Students in the all-girl “FEMINEERS” camp built rockets, designed toys using a 3-D printer, created fuel cell-operated race cars and met female engineers working in the Midlands area. “The goal of the all-girl engineering camp was to encourage a new generation of women to pursue careers in STEM,” engineering instructor Dr. Martin Cwiakala said. “The response was great, the students learned a lot by doing these hands-on experiments, and it’s something we definitely plan to continue next year.”
This is the second year of camp offerings at The Center. Opened in August 2012, the Center for Advanced Technical Studies provides a standalone facility for students to build technical skills, gain certifications and earn college credits. Attended by students from the district’s four high schools, the school offers high-tech courses in a wide variety of areas from biomedical sciences and auto mechanics to alternative energy and welding. Other program offerings include mechatronics, law enforcement, graphic design, agricultural science, culinary arts and veterinary science.
Hannah Bruno, a rising junior at Spring Hill High School who takes biomedical sciences at The Center, said she volunteered to help at Doctor’s In Training camp because it gave her something fun and productive to do this summer.
“I want to be a pediatrician, so I loved interacting with the girls,” said Bruno, who led a group through a beef eye dissection on June 17. “I learned from them too because there were somethings at the camp that we hadn’t discussed in class, and it was fun to teach them what I learned. I wanted to do something productive, and I think it was a good way to spend the summer.”
The camps at The Center are just a few of several offered throughout the summer at District Five schools, including: a dance camp at Irmo High School, cheer camps at both Chapin High School and Dutch Fork High School, and a chess camp at Dutch Fork High. A complete list of camps can be found online at www.lexrich5.org.
