Donning goggles and using measuring tubes, Howard County public school students are learning how to compare DNA samples as part of a career academies camp this week at the Applications and Research Laboratory in Ellicott City.
“Everyday, I?m learning something different,” said Elian Jacobs, a rising eighth-grader at Clarksville Middle School who aspires to become a doctor or researcher.
Elian is one of more than 130 middle-schoolers participating in the camp that offers attendees a glimpse of career paths they can study in high school through the school system?s career academies.
The academies feature seven career clusters: multimedia arts and technology; biotechnology and health services; energy, power and transportation; architecture and engineering; business and entrepreneurship; culinary arts and hotel management; and education.
Most of the academies take place at the ARL and are open to high-schoolers, who participate in intensive coursework and internships by spending part of their school day at the ARL.
David Foster, a rising eighth-grader at Mayfield Woods Middle School, focused intently on building a rubberband-powered airplane Wednesday as part of the energy, power and transportation cluster at the camp.
“I?d like to be a mechanic or a construction worker,” he said. “As long as I get to work on fixing and building machines, I?ll be OK.”
In the biotechnology cluster, Stephanie Poll taught students how police use DNA samples to solve crimes.
“The CSI [Crime, Scene Investigation] aspect of the camp gets them in the door, and they are really excited about it,” said Poll who teaches in the biotechnology cluster.
But Poll also points out to students other aspects of the biotechnology field.
“There are different applications, including how someone?s genes are linked with diseases,” she said.
Natalie Belcher, an instructional facilitator for career and technology education at the ARL, said the camp has been held for the past 10 years.
“We?ve had at least 30 percent of students enroll in a career academy,” she said. Belcher expects that number to increase because of recent program changes, including expanding it to more schools. Originally students from River Hill and Long Reach high schools were considered for the academy.
“We?re hoping it?ll be higher now that more students can participate,” she said.
