Staff photo / Bob Coupland Twin sisters Alexandra Alls, left, and Autumn Alls, 13, and eighth graders from Warren, work together to make pretzels in a culinary art camp that was one of several career camps at the Trumbull Career & Technical Center in Champion.

CHAMPION — This summer, area youth can explore different careers as the Trumbull Career & Technical Center offers both a career camp and a manufacturing camp.

Rachel Gensburg, career tech program supervisor, said the goal of the camps is to offer a variety of topics for students to explore. She said the career camp is offered to students entering grades 7 to 9 for two days while the manufacturing camp is offered for five days.

The career camp has nearly 60 students attending. The career camp allowed students to take part in classes on culinary art, cosmetology, horses, math and babysitting.

“The students could select two different camps to take part in or could be in the same camp for two days,” Gensburg said. “Many students spend two days in the horse camp and being in the barn. These camps allow the students to get exposure to something new that they may not get exposure to anywhere else.”

She said many children like the cooking classes taught by trained chefs in a modern kitchen where they learn to prepare food items they can easily do at home.

“The students see if these are career fields that they would enjoy or are not for them,” Gensburg said. “They see if they like working in a barn with horses, fixing food in a kitchen or being on a computer.”

She said the man manufacturing camp is a week because the students in engineering or welding design items. That camp is limited to 30 students.

“These camps are more extensive because students learn how to use a variety of tools and equipment in each camp,” Gensburg said. “They pick either engineering or welding and focus on that for the whole week. We also take the students on field trips to see people in the field working. It exposes them to what working in the manufacturing fields are like.”

The students took a trip to REM Electronics in Warren.

The Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition lined up the places for the students to visit. Gensburg said the employees at the facilities did hands on activities for the students and a tour of the building.

She said the manufacturing camp is sponsored by Spark Force, which wants the students to see what manufacturing careers are like. Spark Force provides grants for schools to offer such camps, which include tours of manufacturing facilities and designing with their hands.

PRETZEL MAKING

One camp had students learning to make different kinds of food.

Amanda Boninsegna, culinary arts instructor, said she wants students to be able to make basic foods at their homes using basic ingredients such as yeast to make pretzels and pizza.

“They learned how to roll out the dough to make pretzels and about what ingredients are needed. They can easily make this at their home,” Boninsegna said.

“I never made pretzels before so this was fun for me to use yeast and other ingredients,” said Michaela Sakhnovsky, a home-schooled eighth grader.

She also attended the horse camp, where she learned to groom and then ride a horse.

Mariah Davila, eighth grader from Niles, said the cooking class is a fun experience.

“It was fun being able to make pizza in this kitchen which has everything in it,” Davila said.

She also attended the cosmetology program.

Stephanie Berarducci, cosmetology instructor, said she wants the students to learn how to shampoo and condition someone’s hair and then be able to use different styling products on the hair.

“They learn how to be creative when doing someone’s hair and think outside the box. I want them to learn about creative ways of styling hair and the different tools they can use,” she said.

Berarducci said the class allows students to see what the program will be like if they choose to attend the career center.

Caylie Miller, ninth grader from Southington, said she plans to attend the career center when she is in 11th grade.

“I want to be in cosmetology. This is something I have always wanted to do,” Miller said.

Kris Doran, multimedia instructor, said students used computers and learned about music and melodies to create their own songs.

“I showed them animation and what we do here at TCTC. They learned there are tools available to them that they can do this at their home.” Doran said.

Carrie Sinkele, engineering technology instructor, said she focuses on mechanical systems and manufacturing and has each student make a compound machine.

“I want them to create a machine that will help them to pop a balloon. They work out steps to make their machine incorporating simple machines and 3D printing,” Sinkele said.

She said she likes that students from different schools get to know one another with similar interests.

“They are in middle school getting to use the software like 3D printers that high schoolers use. Having a whole week lets us do more,” Sinkele said.

She said the students liked visiting REM Electronics, where they saw people who have engineering backgrounds and what they do at work.