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Technology camp in Brandon
Middle school students completed a free three-week technology camp at the Hillsborough College Brandon campus by presenting their own amusement park designs. The immersive program used coding, virtual reality and artificial intelligence tools to teach cutting-edge skills. FOX 13's Mark Wilson reports.
BRANDON, Fla. - Middle school students completed a free three-week technology camp at the Hillsborough College Brandon campus by presenting their own amusement park designs. The immersive program used coding, virtual reality and artificial intelligence tools to teach cutting-edge skills.
Tampa student presentations
What we know:
A group of 80 middle schoolers participated in a free summer program to build skills in engineering, robotics and design thinking. The three-week camp culminated in students creating presentations for potential theme parks, with many inspired by popular movies and television shows.
Participants utilized an application called Delightex to learn roller coaster design and practiced coding through drone and rover operations. They also used artificial intelligence to generate logo images and park maps while utilizing 3D-printing to create park souvenirs.
Future technology workforce
What they're saying:
"Kids and adults, we learn when it's hands-on, especially when it's something engaging, and we want to do it," Hillsborough College Professional Development Officer Ronkel Williams said.
The free summer camp program, hosted by the National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship, originally started in 2018 to prepare children for a changing workforce.
Williams added, "Every job, everything that we touch has something to do with technology and STEM, so we really try and incorporate with them all the different avenues that they can go into in the world of STEM cause that's where we're going."
Additional program resources
Dig deeper:
Families interested in learning more about the kids' college options can find additional schedules and details on the camp website.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from a local educational report detailing student projects at Hillsborough College, which explained how we got it, as well as statements from Professional Development Officer Ronkel Williams.