Story By Ann Houston

What We Did Last Summer!

Traditionally, the end of May signifies the beginning of summer vacation for teachers and students. Across Oklahoma, however, is the growing trend of CareerTech-sponsored summer camps and summer leadership programs for students and for teachers.

This is list of some of the activities that kept the educational process fun and moving even in the heat of Oklahoma’s summer of 2005.

Caddo Kiowa Technology Center, Ft Cobb
Some 67 students from eight different school districts attended one of the two Tech Camp 2005 sessions this summer at Caddo Kiowa. Students were identified by their local school districts as a part of the gifted and talented program entering third to eighth grades. The goal of the camp is to allow students the opportunity to explore relationships between the world of technology and problem solving.

During the four-day camp students participated in self defense training, a culinary arts project and leadership activities with instructors from Caddo Kiowa; problem solving activities with the Tech Camp leaders; an artistic creation project, team building activities led by Reach 2010 and took a field trip to LETRA.

Central Technology Center, Drumright
In a program open to eighth-to-10th grade students across Cimarron Valley, Creek County Ambulance Service partnered with Drumright’s Central Tech to treat a large group of local students to a close-up view of a real ambulance and give them cause to think about possible careers in healthcare and emergency services. Students participated in a drug-buster activity in which they got to act out a real-life scenario and work with injured patients in a real ambulance. Approximately 109 students participated in the program.

FFA
A record 1,442 FFA members attended the popular Oklahoma FFA Alumni Leadership Camp this past summer at Camp Tulakogee near Wagoner, Okla.

Francis Tuttle, OKC
Planning summer children's activities that will keep them interested while learning can be challenging. Francis Tuttle's Summer Quest 2005 for Kids ages 11-14 did just that, offering a variety of fun learning activities including Babysitter's Boot Camp (to become the most popular babysitter in the neighborhood), Monster Machines (build your own solar-powered race car, a ping-pong launcher and a water rocket), Lights, Camera, Acting! (American Idol, here you come), and much more.

Gordon Cooper Technology Center, Shawnee
At the Gordon Cooper Summer Youth Program for high school, students worked for a month on academic enrichment, career awareness, and personal development. The students then invited high school teachers whom they consider to be a positive role model with mentoring abilities to a special recognition luncheon.

Gordon Cooper also hosted a three-day summer math seminar along with sponsors the Oklahoma Department of CareerTech, the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics, TechPrep and Project Lead the Way. The seminar was designed to close the gap between abstract mathematics and real-life application and was developed for math and science teachers who have heard the same question over the years from students who don’t see the need for all those equations, graph coordinates and proofs. With hands-on activities, the teachers worked on precision measurement, understanding graph activity, static equilibrium activities, truss calculation activities, puzzle cubes, Boolean Algebra, and plotting points. Participants also learned to better interpret data and graphs the way engineers do and heard about the potential national economic security risk the nation will be in unless more students become successful in engineering careers.	Britney Henderson, 13, Shawnee, encourages her bloodhound named Buster to continue going over an obstacle course during dog obedience class during Summer Youth Academy at Gordon Cooper Technology Center.
	Donna Scribner, director of asynchronous professional development for Project Lead the Way, right, talks to mathematics teachers from partner high schools in the Gordon Cooper Technology Center district about application of mathematics problems in an engineering context.

Kiamichi Technology Center, Spiro and McAlester
At Camp KTC, Spiro campus, one of the activities included computer technology instructors teaching public school educators how to use the computer and software to do genealogical searches to create and print a four-generation family tree.

In Career Quest 2005, eighth- and ninth-grade students in the Kiamichi Technology Center, McAlester campus service area, had the opportunity to visit five different programs during the four-day event. The programs were Construction Trades, Health Careers, Precision machine, Automotive Services and Early Child Education.

Meridian Technology Center, Stillwater
Selected Perkins-Tryon and Agra teachers participated in a Business and Industry Internship Program in Stillwater. The internship was designed to aid teachers in developing relevant lesson plans that achieve the academic and technical skills students will need in the working world. The program, sponsored by the Region Five North Tech Prep Consortium and Meridian Technology Center, allowed teachers to visit and observe the skills needed in a particular business. Each participating company provided a mentor who coordinated tours and detailed business procedures, emphasizing the application of technology within the organization.

Also at Meridian, 77 eighth- ninth- and 10th grade students participated in the week-long Tech Trek III program. Career exploration classes focused the trekkers’ attentions on technical career possibilities in the Automotive Technology, Culinary Arts, Manufacturing Technology, Information Technology and Construction fields.

Moore Norman Technology Center More than 1,000 projected area students enrolled in Moore Norman Technology Center’s Summer Youth Academy. MNTC offered 133 unique and separate four-day sessions for children nine to 14 years old. The sessions included Mesmerizing Magic, robotics, movie making, digital DJing and keyboarding. Teachers from the surrounding school districts were invited to lead the sessions and provide a well-organized and structured environment.

Northwest Technology Center, Alva
Students involved in Project HOPE, funded by the Waynoka and Freedom 21st Century Community Learning Center Grant, recently completed a one-month summer school session with the Hawaiian/Tropical Island Theme.

The schools partnered with Northwest Technology Center in Alva who organized special classes for all the children. The classes for kindergarten through eighth-grade students featured hands-on activities in art and drawing, science and the making of slime and woodworking with students constructing and painting bird feeders. Additional on-site activities included Focus on Reading and recreation.

Grossology 101 was a highlight at the Northwest Tech Kid’s Workshop 2005 for children from eight to 12 years of age. Participants constructed models of human organs such as the brain, spinal cord and heart from clay and placed them inside a skeleton.

Children were also caught “Buggin’ Out at Northwest Tech,” with insects and other bugs popping up throughout the themes of many of the classes that included drawing and painting, building a bird feeder and the A, “Bee,” Cs of Cooking were all part of the week-long event.

Pioneer Technology Center, Ponca City
The 2005 Summer Youth Technology Adventure Camp gave area students an opportunity to experience career-training programs at Pioneer Technology Center.

This was a record-breaking year with about 175 area sixth- and seventh- graders attending the four-day camp. Campers chose programs to explore in several areas that included the trade and industry areas of construction, automotive and mechanical technology, welding and machine tool. Service occupations, such as health science, foods, cosmetology and child-care, were also highlighted as were business and technology programs of information technology and computer-based business technology programs.

Students also participated in business and industry tours and team building activities on the ropes course. Students entering the eighth- and ninth- grades attended Health Science Investigators Summer Camp featuring hands-on activities for students. The students explored their interests in health careers – specifically forensic health – through experimentation including crime scene experiments, fingerprinting analysis, blood splatters, and culturing and related field trips.

Red River Technology Center, Duncan
While their students were enjoying their first days of summer vacation, English, math and business teachers and counselors participated in a four-day summer internship program at Red River Technology Center. Thanks to TechPrep and Carl Perkins funding, these academic instructors were able to select one area of concentration to learn how to relate the relevancy of academics to the classroom. The four areas included transportation, business management and administration, health science and manufacturing.

Service manager David Gammill of the Billingsley Ford dealership in Duncan explains a job ticket with Walters High School teachers (l-r) Angela Morris, English I and III, Sherry Womack, business, and Candra Marlett, AP English.

Tulsa Technology Center
Tulsa area teenagers found the arts at Tech for Teens at Tulsa Technology Center’s Tech for Teens this summer. Some of the highlights included programs on Photoshop and Digital Photo Camp
Teen Intro to Theatre and Advanced Theatre for Teens.