Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
The Gogebic Community College main campus in Ironwood, seen here on Wednesday morning, will host a summer youth camp for middle schoolers in June, on entrepreneurship, manufacturing, and biology/field sciences.
By CHARITY SMITH
Ironwood - Gogebic Community College has partnered once again with the Gogebic-Ontonagon Intermediate School District to host five summer camp classes for youth ages 11-14.
"It is really exciting. It's the second year we have tried to do some programing targeting middle school students," said Glen Ackerman-Behr, director of workforce development at GCC. "Last year, we had one camp in Gogebic County and one camp in Ontonagon County, both focusing on manufacturing and specifically welding programs; and now in 2022, we want to expand from two camps to five camps, and we want to maintain our manufacturing theme."
The camps will each be one week long during the month of June for students entering grades 6-8. They will take place at the Ironwood GCC campus and Skilled Trades Center and at the GOISD's CTE center in Ontonagon.
Ironwood will have camps available, during the week of June 6-10 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in manufacturing with a welding focus, business entrepreneurship, and biology field sciences. Camps offered in Ontonagon will take place during the week of June 13-17, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and will include manufacturing with a focus in welding and Red Cross CPR-babysitter training.
"We have got a couple of faculty here at the Ironwood campus that are really interested in doing a biology field science walk where the students will have the opportunity to get out in the woods and look at various invertebrates. They'll look at all different types of trees and the canopy," said Ackerman-Behr. "They're just going to learn about and have an appreciation for this beautiful space that we live in. They'll be some stuff out in the field where they can get there hands dirty. There will be some stuff in the lab as well."
He said the entrepreneurship camp will focus on how to start and operate a businesses. He said they will be looking at a curriculum geared for middle schoolers, with input from Paulette Niemi of the GOISD, who is co-directing the program with him.
"In high school, students frequently get to start a small business and run that business as part of a class to learn about entrepreneurship. We want to introduce that to middle school students," said Ackerman-Behr.
Ackerman-Behr said last year's camp was full with 20 students enrolled and many more on a wait-list. This year they expect at least 70 students to enroll. Registration opens in March. Students are welcome to sign up for a camp in both locations. Transportation will not be provided to and from the camps, but transportation will be provided for related field trips. However, Ackerman-Behr said in extenuating services, transportation can be arranged for the student through Gogebic County Transit.
"Last year, the camps filled up very quickly," said Ackerman-Behr. "That's why I'm trying to offer more camps this year to give more students opportunities."
In 2021, the camps primarily focused on welding as they were backed by a grant focused on manufacturing. This year, organizers have expanded the focus and gained additional sponsors to be able to offer a wider selection of courses.
"My goal in workforce development is to just help students understand what opportunities are out there and give them meaningful opportunities to explore some of that," said Ackerman-Behr.
He said they're looking to partner with as many local organizations as they can so students can learn about their community and what kind of jobs or volunteer opportunities might be available to them here.
For more information on the summer camps and to register go to Gogebic.edu.
