Valley hosted a manufacturing camp for foster youth and other students, giving them an introduction and hands-on experience in the world of manufacturing. The participants met for one week through August 17- 21 for a total of 20 hours and were exposed to CNC programming, MasterCAM, blueprint reading, careers and jobs, and visited local aerospace and manufacturing companies.
"We found it's a real good opportuniy for training," said Roberto Gutierrez from the Job Training Center. "The industry is very much interested with working with young people, the new talent, machinists, problem solvers of tomorrow."
The camp was put together by collaborative efforts by Valley's Job Training Center and Youth Empowering Strategies for Success (YESS), a program funded by the Foundation for California Community Colleges which is geared toward foster youth getting closer to or have been emancipated.
"It worked out great. We were a little too successful," joked Syed Hussain, director of YESS and Title V. The program anticipated 20 youth, but accepted 30 students, half of them foster youth. At the end of the camp, 24 graduated the course and 18 of the graduates earned one college unit. "We got blown away by our success," Hussain added.
The camp participants came from throughout the greater Los Angeles area, from Wilmington to Palmdale. Ricardo Ruiz, a senior at Van Nuys High School and concurrent student at Valley College, participated in the camp after hearing about it from his high school metal shop teacher. "We learned a lot," he says. "It really showed me what I want to be…I want to be a designer."
But as great as it may sound, there is always room for improvements. Gutierrez would have liked a longer program with more kids, but- stressing safety- no more than 15 per class. Similarly, Hussein wished for more funding so that more than one trainer can help keep the class sizes small, and so that the participants may have more exposure to other trades, such as welding. Both organizers hope that the success of this camp sets the tone for future programs.
This manufacturing camp was funded by a $4,000 grant awarded by the Nuts, Bolts, and Thingamajigs, a foundation that hopes to inspire "the next generation of tinkerers and the innovators of tomorrow's workforce." Valley was one of four California community colleges, and the only college in southern California, who was awarded the grant.
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