Local manufacturer supports NCCET’s Future Engineers’ Camp

Posted Feb. 16, 2015 at 11:33 a.m.

HICKORY—US Conec, a Hickory-based fiber optic cables and connection hardware manufacturer, has contributed $5,000 to support the 2015 Future Engineers’ Camp operated by the N.C. Center for Engineering Technologies.

The center, also located in Hickory, operates week-long day camps each summer for area school students from 3rd to 10th grade. The US Conec gift will provide scholarships for students to attend the camps.

“One of our goals for the Future Engineers’ Camps is to reach underrepresented populations of students and help them understand and get excited about careers in engineering,” said Dr. Sid Connor, NCCET director. “Often, underrepresented populations do not have the funding to come to camps like these, so scholarships funded by this US Conec gift will help us recruit these students.”

The camps are a collaboration with Appalachian State University, Catawba Valley Community College and N.C. State University and designed to help students better understand the math, science and technology involved in various engineering STEM disciplines – science, technology, engineering and math.

The camp expects to enroll 160 students this summer.

Four camps will be offered this summer: a Future Engineers Camp for rising 3rd through 5th grade students, one for rising 6th through 8th grade students, a robotics camp for rising 7th through 8th grade students and a product development camp for rising 9th and 10th grade students.

Students are led in activities during the week by licensed elementary and middle school teachers along with Appalachian faculty, students and staff.

The cost is $325. The application process is highly competitive. Students submit a written essay about their wish to attend a camp, and a recommendation from a teacher is also required.

For more information about this summer’s campus, visit http://nccet.appstate.edu/future-engineers-camps-2015.

About Appalachian State University

As the premier public undergraduate institution in the Southeast, Appalachian State University prepares students to lead purposeful lives as global citizens who understand and engage their responsibilities in creating a sustainable future for all. The Appalachian Experience promotes a spirit of inclusion that brings people together in inspiring ways to acquire and create knowledge, to grow holistically, to act with passion and determination, and to embrace diversity and difference. Located in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian is one of 17 campuses in the University of North Carolina System. Appalachian enrolls nearly 21,000 students, has a low student-to-faculty ratio and offers more than 150 undergraduate and graduate majors.