Collegio Online

Issue date: 6/12/08 Section: Campus Life

Media Credit: Photo Courtesy Malcolm Turner PSU plastics engineering teacher Paul Herring explains design software to a group of kids at last year's Plastic is Fantastic workshop.

College of Technology faculty are working to combine education and summer fun for three workshops aimed at kids ages 9-14.
Participants will experience first-hand the creation and composition of plastics during the "Plastic is Fantastic" workshop beginning Monday, July 7. Injection and rotational molding will be demonstrated, and each participant gets to keep the materials he or she creates.
Another workshop will explore the construction industry with activities related to a career in professional construction management.
"We want kids to get excited about technology because there are going to be so many careers available in technology fields," said associate professor of engineering technology Randy Winzer.
The idea for the workshops was generated six years ago with the Adventures in Robotics camp. The construction and plastics camps were added to the curriculum last summer.
"There are all of these things related to athletics in the summertime, but we really wanted something that was more of an academic program that could get kids involved-something to keep their brain engaged during the summer," said Winzer.
By scheduling the workshops in July, the experience will be fresh in the students' minds as they return to school for the fall semester.
"We want to introduce kids to some of these topics that generally get a bad rap in school, like mathematics, science and physics because they can be fun in the right setting," said Winzer.
There is a $90 fee for each camp. For more information regarding the summer workshops, or to sign up for one of the camps, call Winzer at 235-4370, or visit the camp Web site at www.pittstate.edu/air.

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