Governor's Minority Camp at OCTC

Middle School participants of the Governors Minority Student College Preparation Program (GMSCPP), funded by the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) and sponsored by Owensboro Community amp; Technical College (OCTC), attended Were Getting It Together: STEM, Mechatronics, Nursing, Culture, and Budgeting summer camp, June 15-20, 2009 on the OCTC main campus from 9 AM - 4 PM daily.

Participants traveled to Murray State University on June 8-9 to attend the GMSCPP Statewide Annual Conference, where they and hundreds of other middle school students from across the Commonwealth participated in workshops to learn about STEM-based (STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) programs to prepare them for careers in Advanced Manufacturing, Computer Aided Design, Media, Engineering, Radiology, Veterinary, Medicine, and Agriculture.

OCTCs GMSCPP was a one week camp that offered the students a variety of experiences beginning with a mini-robotics camp, sponsored by the Mechatronics Advanced Manufacturing Program-funded in part by a NSF grant, a mini-Nursing camp on Tuesday, where the students were exposed to the use of a stethoscope, and various other medical equipment and procedures. On Wednesday the students attended a Mechatronics-sponsored trip to the Nashville Adventure Science Center, and Thursday concluded the day camp with a 5-session workshop on Financial Literacy, sponsored by Junior Achievement and a visit from the College Info Road Show Bus, from the Kentucky Higher Education Association (KHEAA).

After a family night celebration on Thursday evening, the participants boarded a charter bus to Atlanta for an academic/cultural enrichment trip, which included visits to the Neurological Sciences Department at Tennessee State University, the CNN News Studio, and the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Museum.