Carbon County Community Foundation (CCCF) has partnered with Carbon Career and Technical Institute (CCTI) to seek EITC funding to launch the Nontraditional Summer Camp as a regular annual opportunity to encourage students in grades 5 – 8 to explore and pursue nontraditional occupations. The award-winning after school program SHINE is also partnering to help administer the program as it aligns well with their mission to encourage youth to engage in STEM activities. For many years, CCTI has consistently ranked as the top Career and Technical Institute in the state of Pennsylvania and CCCF is proud to partner with them to help strengthen educational and career opportunities for young people in our region.
The Nontraditional Summer Camp engages young women and men with hands-on projects at the CCTI to experience the work involved with lucrative and in-demand fields that are traditionally dominated by the opposite sex. Encouraging nontraditional student enrollment is a state-wide goal and this is yet another area in which our CTI stands out from other schools by creating initiatives like this to help prepare students for 21st Century job demands, fill labor shortages, earn higher pay, and hopefully have more personal satisfaction in their professional lives.
The two-week camp was just completed last week and hosted approximately 75 participants, up from 25 the year before. This year, girls completed projects in carpentry, auto service and technology, computer engineering technology and electronics and boys worked in the cosmetology, graphic design, health medical, and culinary arts programs.
Special thanks to UGI for contributing EITC funds to support this program.
