Students learn welding, engineering at Northeast State technology camp

BLOUNTVILLE, Tenn. (WJHL) — Northeast State Community College held a “Kids Rule Technology Camp” on Thursday for middle school students to learn about computer science, engineering, welding and more.

Around 60 middle school students from across the region participated in the camps.

Northeast State Technology Division Project Director Dawn Bridwell told News Channel 11 that the camp offers various activities involving technology.

“They’ve been able to do all sorts of hands-on activities, anything from an engineering design with egg drops,” Bridwell said. “They got to weld. They’re doing a PC teardown. They’re doing science sessions in cyber security. We are building solar cars. We’re building robots and racing them. They are just getting experience [with] our whole entire technologies division while meeting new friends and working as teams and just learning all about technology.”

Bridwell said the college also offers an abbreviated day of the camps during the fall.

“This age is crucial,” Bridwell said. “Our state has done a phenomenal job with introducing career technical education, and so we actually have during the fall, we have what’s called [a] day of programs here at Northeast State where school systems come in and they bus their kids in. And we have kind of like what we have today, but an abbreviated day.”

Bridwell said the middle school age is a sweet spot to learn what they’re going to do in the future.

“Today is just a two-day camp, fun-filled of nothing but technology because this age group is the sweet spot of learning technology to learn to know what they’re going to do in the future.”

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