With a focus on providing incoming high school freshmen and sophomores initial contact with advanced manufacturing, Mid-South Community College in West Memphis, Arkansas held the Manufacturing Engineering Technology STEM Summer Academy this summer. Students from across northeast Arkansas participated in the two week day camp designed to increase student interest in manufacturing careers.
In specifically designed lecture and hands-on classes, the students learned the scientific and mathematical backgrounds to the technology they used throughout the program including circuit design and welding. The classes covered the basic concepts of manufacturing technology then progressed to the applications of this technology. The instructors taught the students the design processes of engineering technology as well as computer aided drafting, solid works and 3D prototyping, and computer numerical control programming. The students then completed multiple hands-on projects in the machining technology and welding areas. Using the high-tech manufacturing training equipment located on the Mid-South campus, the students completed fully working lamps and puzzle boards. This helped provide the students with a practical view of how the high-tech science, mathematics, and engineering they learned throughout the two weeks could culminate in manufactured products. This, in turn, made the science, math, and engineering behind the technology no longer frightening but accessible.
The camp also exposed students to possible careers in the field of manufacturing with tours of local industries as well as lectures from prominent business leaders in the region. Instructors provided the students with information regarding internships at industry sites and potential areas for growth in the industry were emphasized as these high school students prepare to choose colleges and fields of study. The success of the camp can be summed up with the excitement of the students involved with one particular student saying, “I learned things that I never thought I would learn.”
This summer academy was funded by the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation (Grant #9-0522) as part of the STEM Teacher Empowerment program at the Arkansas Science & Technology Authority.