East Central Community College is gearing up for its summer with a variety of summer youth programs for local students.
In a Board of Trustees meeting last Tuesday, Teresa Mackey, vice president for instruction, announced East Central would be launching a 4-H robotics program and a GenCyber camp for young girls this year.
ECCC and Mississippi State University have been working closely with each other for several years in the engineering and robotics fields, Mackey explained. Through that partnership, the Mississippi State Extension Service in Decatur contacted East Central about setting up a robotics program for 4-H students.
“We’re known for sending engineering students to MSU,” Mackey said. “They have asked to use our computer science classroom and some of the robotics.”
The 4-H robotics program will benefit both the 4-H and ECCC students, with the East Central Robotics Club and engineering students working along side and mentoring their guests.
“We’re really excited about this,” Mackey said.
Additionally, East Central will host its own GenCyber camp, a summer camp for young girls interested in science and mathematics, this summer. Mackey said ECCC had previously partnered with MSU to hold the camp but decided to strike out on its own. After applying for a GenCyber grant to finance the camps, she said the college had been awarded $98,000.
“It’s for girls third through eighth grade interested in STEM and engineering,” she said.
Although plans are still being finalized, Mackey said she hopes to hold four camps, with one in Choctaw County, one in Winston County and two camps in Newton County.
In other business, the Board of Trustees:
• accepted a bid from Killen Contractors Inc. for $98,500 for electrical services to the new football operations center;
• approved changes to policy 822.1 regarding student grievance procedures to comply with federal guidelines; and
• approved changes to policy 621.3 adding language concerning peer-to-peer sharing of copyrighted materials to comply with federal guidelines.
