VIRGINIA BEACH -- High school students from Elizabeth City and Washington D.C. as well as Hampton Roads are spending the week immersed in American manufacturing.
STIHL Incorporated is passionate about educating them in a new summer camp program.
"So we are going to be showing these kids everything from buffing a metal surface all the way through programming a three-axis mill," said Simon Nance of STIHL Inc.
They built their own three axis mill and learned to program it so they could cut pieces to make clocks. Five teams were formed, and by the end of the week they will compete against each other in a special clock-making competition.
"They're real life issues that are happening right here and they are trying to solve problems just as they do at the manufacturing plants that we have right here in Virginia Beach," said Roger Crider of Princess Anne High School.
"The scariest thing in this camp is problems. The funnest thing in this camp is meeting new people and making jokes of problems," teased James Conley, a freshman at Kellam High School. He says he is learning "the skills to be a manufacturer when you grow up with the skills to be able to go out in the real world and get a job."
Morgan Alberse of Landstown High School think manufacturing sort of gets a bum rap.
"Yeah, because a lot of people don't think it's clean and awesome as it really is. We took a tour today and it's really, really organized," added Alberse.
STIHL is sharing this camp idea with Thomas Nelson Community College.
