Local youth wrap up summer manufacturing and firefighter camps at Elgin Community College

The Sustainability, Business, and Career Technologies Division at Elgin Community College, in collaboration with the college’s Continuing Education and Workforce Development, concluded its summer manufacturing and fire science camps for local high schoolers on July 17.

These camps aimed to give youth the chance to explore careers in welding and manufacturing.

Students had the opportunity to enroll in different sessions in June and July. Through the summer manufacturing camp, which took place from June 10-13, participants engaged in hands-on projects.

They learned how to program desktop CNC machines, which are used in desktop manufacturing. They also learned a special welding technique called metal inert gas welding, or MiG.

The Sustainability, Business, and Career Technologies Division also provided a fire science camp for the first time, which ran July 1-17.

Under the direction of ECC Center for Emergency Service instructors, this group of local youth participated in different scenarios, such as search and rescue and forced entry.

Samrana Aleem of Bartlett brought her daughter to the Fire Science Camp to expose her to different professions she might consider for her future.

“She should know the different professions, and this is an opportunity to learn how this job is done and how risky it is,” Aleem said. “I’m also coming with and seeing how widespread this job is; they bring in so many fields and skills.”

“We are pleased that so many students participated in the summer manufacturing and fire science camps,” said Tyler O’Donnell, Associate Dean of Sustainability, Business, and Career Technologies. “We hope that this early career exploration resonated with them and opened their eyes to various career paths. We look forward to offering these camps again next summer.”

For more information on ECC’s continuing education courses, visit elgin.edu/ce.