Peak Innovation Center hosting numerous career-focused summer camps

Fort Smith Public Schools (FSPS) Peak Innovation Center is taking advantage of good ole summertime as a chance to introduce children and teenagers to a wide-variety of career paths.

Hundreds of students in fourth through 11th grade are attending camps and participating in programs at Peak during June and July, said Dr. Gary Udouj, FSPS director of career education and district innovation.

“All of our camps have been filled with a waiting list,” Udouj said. “Each year we try to expand our offerings. We are always looking at different career clusters.”

Last year, the district offered an aviation camp, and Udouj said he hoped it could be offered again in the future.

Summer camps this year included emerging art and photography; construction; advanced manufacturing; Bumps, Bruises & BooBoos; Latinos en Medicina; and University of Arkansas at Fort Smith (UAFS) coding and career exploration camp. Though most of the camps hosted students entering seventh or eighth grade, Latinos en Medicina, held with help from Arkansas College of Health Education, was for those entering ninth grade, and the two UAFS camps were for students entering eighth grade.

“Students in the construction camp (held with the help of the Greater Fort Smith Association of Homebuilders) learned many aspects of construction, including plumbing,” Udouj said. “They learned how to unclog a sink.”

Another construction camp, aimed at students entering fourth through sixth grade, will be held June 23. At that camp, students will learn about construction and design while building a kid-sized racetrack for imaginative play that will be set up in the Fort Kids Children’s Museum pop-up exhibit space at The Bakery District in downtown Fort Smith.

“We like to use these camps as a way to help students get an early introduction to careers so they can explore and see where they have interest,” Udouj said.

By doing that, students can have a better grasp of their aptitudes and interests when it comes time to create their pathway to success, he said. The pathways to success better equip students with the skills and knowledge needed for careers in current and emerging industries.

“We don’t expect them to map out what they want to do with their career in eighth grade, but we like them to start thinking of what their interests are and how they can move forward towards those,” Udouj said.

This summer 15 students entering junior and senior years in the fall also are taking a part in UAFS apprenticeship programs. The students spend the first half of the day at Peak and then the other half of the day with local employers working in a “true apprenticeship” program, Udouj said, adding that companies in the program include ABB and Gerber.

“The (mornings at Peak) focus a lot on safety programs like OSHA 10 and Lean Six Sigma. There is a lot of focus on safety,” Udouj said. “In the fall, these students will start at their home high school, then come to Peak and then spend a couple of hours at their apprenticeship. Most of these students will then go on to work for those companies and continue on at UAFS.”

Not having students full time at Peak during the summer months also allows local businesses and organizations to use the ArcBest Community Room and see more of what happens at the innovation center, Udouj said. The Arkansas Chamber of Commerce had a meeting in the community room. The FSPS Partner in Education annual meeting will be held there later this summer, and companies, including Mars Petcare and the 188th Wing, have training sessions at the center this summer, he said.

“The ArcBest Community Room has really given us a lot of opportunity to introduce many to Peak and what we do here,” Udouj said.