Michigan Works! The Job Force Board, in partnership with MTEC and the Regional Industrial Manufacturing Skills Alliance, is hosting robotics camps for local youth ages 7-12 in four counties this summer.
In Delta County, the 4 day camps have been located at the M-TEC at Bay College. Bay West hosted the Dickinson County camps, and the High Schools in both Manistique and Munising are set to host camps in the upcoming weeks in their counties. If you know of someone that might be interested in upcoming camps in the Manistique and Munising areas, please direct them to call Melissa at M-TEC: 906-217-4106 for more information on how to register for upcoming camps. Campers are provided an opportunity to learn about the different types of robots, how to construct and customize the robots, what robots can do and how they relate to everyday life. They also learn what jobs and businesses use robotics, and have daily opportunities to build, program and compete against other robots.
This is an opportunity to not only provide the day camp experience for youth, but also to provide summer work experience for local teens as day camp instructors. Camp leaders were trained by MARESA at the Seaborg Center at NMU to learn the basics of the LEGO Mindstorms NXT kits and have toured local manufacturers such as EMP and VanAire to learn more about the real-world application of robotics. This year, camp has expanded to four days to incorporate new Alternative Energy components to allow youth hands-on experience with wind, solar and water energy. These kits were funded by generous donations by Heritage Windfarms of Garden and VanAire from Gladstone.
Formed in 2004, The Upper Peninsula Regional Industrial Manufacturing Skills Alliance was created to develop a highly qualified labor pool to meet the current and future needs of the UP’s industrial manufacturers and develop industry specific solutions through partnerships with education, legislators and other industries. To achieve this mission, the UP-RIMSA brings people-from skilled trades, manufacturing, advanced manufacturing and other stakeholders such as education, economic developers and legislative representatives-together to focus on three key areas: build the workforce pipeline to meet the Industrial Manufacturing Industry’s needs, build skill capacity to ensure a competitive workforce, and develop solutions to industry specific challenges.
Source: Press Release – Michigan Works!
