MANSFIELD — A new camp in Richland County aims to help high school students find local training resources for careers in technology.
The four-day “Electronics for Beginners” class culminated with 13 students presenting their final projects they built using Arduino programming kits on June 27.
A Microsoft TechSpark grant helped make the course free for attendees. The Richland Area Chamber & Economic Development partnered with the 179th Cyberspace Wing for instructors.
“I think this program for the first time went really well,” said Mansfield-Richland Area Educational Foundation Director Angie Cirone. “The students learned a lot that goes beyond the classroom.
“We’re so excited to foster this passion for electronics and technology careers among the students. We hope to build additional career pathways and training for students right here in Richland County.”
Students in the class learned how to couple hardware and software with programmable circuit boards and interactive electronics devices.
Air Force Capt. Melissa Steele and Sgt. Bryant Silliman from the 179th Cyberspace Wing instructed the camp with Logan Prough from the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Final projects range from fans to songs, security systems
Prough said the camp instructors made the final projects open-ended, only requiring students to use at least two of the components they learned about during the week.
“Our goal for camp is to teach them how to use these components as building blocks, so they can keep programming whatever they imagine,” he said.
“They definitely improved a lot with problem solving. Instead of looking at something that wasn’t doing what they wanted it to do, all the students learned how to look through and fix it themselves.”
Final projects ranged from cooling systems to coding songs, security systems or a virtual tape measure.
Jeremy Leber, a senior-to-be at Crestview High School, programmed a miniature police plane to maneuver, light up and sound a horn when turned on.
“I have some close family members and friends who are aerospace engineers,” Leber said. “My grandfather was also an engineer.
“So watching him take two random objects and create a solution made me want to do that too. I think the biggest thing I learned from this camp was how to code and understand the work and wiring that goes into something like this.”
Steele, a cyber operator and chief of training for the 179th Cyberspace Wing Operation Support Squadron, said the introductory knowledge students learned could help them in many different careers.
“There’s a few different paths at our workspace for example,” she said. “There’s the software pathway and the hardware pathway.
“Software is pure coding and programming, while hardware is the physical parts of a computer. But many positions require you to have a working knowledge of both.”
Cirone said the Chamber plans to offer an electronics camp again next year and is considering opportunities for adult upskilling classes.
