Campbell summer school kicks off with ATC camp
Published 11:41 am Thursday, June 8, 2017
Jonas Angel solders a small electronic christmas tree together working alongside Allison Smith. (Photo by Seth Littrell)
RDC students Blake Davis and Jordan Shelton work in the Area Technology Center's integrated engineering room. (Photo by Seth Littrell)
Robert D. Campbell Jr. High School students Jacob Hudson and Hunter Payne watch as deigns they made are cut out on sheet metal in the Area Technology Center's welding room during the first week of summer school. (Photo by Seth Littrell)
Braden Wafford and Zach Burriss pose with a brain they removed from a pig fetus Wednesday mornign at th Area Technology Center. (Photo by Seth Littrell)
Diego Sanchez creates the body of a pen in the carpentry room of the Area Technology Center Wednesday morning. (Photo by Seth Littrell)
Students from Robert D. Campbell Jr. High School began summer school this week with a visit to the Area Technology Center.
According to ATC principal Michael Kindred, the technology center has hosted RDC students for a summer camp for several years.
The students attended the camp for the first week of the four-week summer school program. During their time at the ATC, students would rotate to different pathways the center offers, learning basic skills in health sciences, automotive, integrated engineering, welding and carpentry.
Students created something they could take home in each classroom, including a Christmas tree light, a first-aid kit, a set of jumper cables, a custom-cut sheet metal sign and a pen.
RDC teacher and summer school leader Teresa Burkhardt said the summer camp served multiple purposes.
On one hand, it served to give the students, mostly eighth graders, a glimpse of the options open to them for study in high school once they got there.
The camp is also meant to show them the academic foundation they will need if they are to go into any of the fields they worked in.
“This is a great opportunity for these kids, and it’s being offered to the ones who need it the most,” Burkhardt said.
Burkhardt said there are a total of 32 students enrolled in RDC’s summer school program this year, with 22 of them being eighth graders who will then move on to high school in the fall.
Burkhardt said the remaining three weeks of summer school will be spent largely in the classroom back at RDC, reinforcing what was taught over the school year, Burkhardt said.
