Summer Camp Electrifies High School Students' Interest In STEM

22 high school students are getting hands-on experience in the healthcare and manufacturing industries this week.

During Day 3 of the Broken Arrow STEM camp the students interested in manufacturing put hard hats and safety glasses on to work alongside linemen at a Public Service of Oklahoma (PSO) pole yard.

Union High School junior Braedon Gunn said he wants to be an engineer, so for him, it is an ideal way to spend summer break. "I would love to be doing something like this," he said.

Braedon and five other students learned how to climb a power pole and moved electrical switches. Union High School sophomore Donnealous Sims said it's been an eye-opening experience. "I never knew that their job was this hard," he continued saying, "Electricity is very dangerous, and they put their lives on the line for us to have electricity."

Amber Miller with the Broken Arrow Economic Development Corporation (BAEDC) said the healthcare and manufacturing industries face workforce challenges. "As the population ages, more workers are leaving the workforce, so this is a great way to bridge those gaps and build that pipeline of talent."

This is the first year of the week-long camp, a partnership between BAEDC and Tulsa Tech. Braedon said that so far the experience has been great, and that it has helped him visualize his future.

"It has just shown me that there are so many more different types of engineering than I thought," he added. "It has given me opportunities to learn what they do and help me really decide what I want to do."

The camp goes on until Friday. Eleven employers in the healthcare and manufacturing industries are participating.