It has been another highly successful summer for Immokalee Foundation students!
While many young people in Southwest Florida use the summer months to relax and unwind, our students take a different approach. They continue their journey toward success through fun and engaging learning opportunities. These include internships for eleventh and twelfth-grade students, and educational summer camps at Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) and Immokalee Technical College (iTECH) for middle and high school students.
Internships
Engineering & Construction Management student learns machine grinding and welding at Greg Orick Marine Construction.
Fifty-three Immokalee Foundation high school students participated in paid internships to learn from industry experts in their chosen Career Pathway at 19 locations throughout SW Florida.
We want to extend a big thank you to our internship hosts for helping our students gain crucial hands-on experience that is essential for their future success in the workforce.
Arthrex, Artis—Naples, Avow Hospice, Barron Collier Companies, Collier County Sheriff’s Office, Conservancy of Southwest Florida, Guadalupe Center, Greg Orick Marine Construction, Healthcare Network, Immokalee Foundation Construction Learning Lab, John R Wood, Legal Aid Service of Collier County, Naples Air, The Naples Players, Physician’s Regional Healthcare System , Rookery Bay, Schulze Family Foundation, MHK Architects, and WGCU.
Middle School STEM Camp
Middle Students spend the day exploring a nature trail at FGCU and discovered a cypress dome.
In partnership with FGCU, the Middle School STEM Camp provided our inquisitive youngsters with four weeks of customized STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) instruction.
Students studied engineering, where they learned about mass and velocity using homemade catapults and water guns. They learned forensics and the science behind crime scenes. Our future CSI investigators fingerprinted each other and deciphered bones and evidence at crime scenes set up by their professors.
Then came environmental science, where students learned about vegetation, native wildlife, and water filtration. Students ended their experience with computer science, focusing on coding.
This is our sixth year partnering with FGCU on this camp.
Education & Human Services Pathway Camp
Students learn forensics at the Emerging Technologies Institute at FGCU.
Once again, in partnership with FGCU, our students learned about careers within the pathway, including social work, forensics, education, and school counseling. The team at FGCU’s ROCKCenter also instructed students on empathy and compassion, which are essential skills in this pathway.
FGCU professors provided a high level of engagement through various hands-on activities with our students, such as self-care stations.
Engineering & Construction Management Camp
This year, in addition to the exceptional foundation-building educational camp at Immokalee Technical College, we launched an additional one-week engineering camp at FGCU.
Students were taught by FGCU engineering professors and learned about the various career paths. Plus, students created homemade rockets and launched them across a field. In the process, they learned how the design of a rocket and PSI (pounds per square inch) can affect the distance it travels.
Healthcare Pathway Camp
Students meet and interact with healthcare professionals from Physicians Regional Healthcare System at a Lunch & Learn.
FGCU also hosted a four-week summer camp for our healthcare students. Students enjoyed hands-on career rotations through the most prevalent healthcare majors at the university, such as nursing, occupational therapy, anatomy and physiology, exercise science, anesthesiology, nutrition, and pediatric & obstetrics.
Some of the dynamic hands-on activities included organ dissections and anatomy drawings.
Business Management & Entrepreneurship Pathway Camp
Students discuss how they will market their product with an FGCU instructor.
Guided by FGCU instructors, students spent 80 hours formulating a new business product or idea. This included learning the fundamentals of manufacturing, logistics, marketing, and business sustainability. They concluded the camp with a Shark Tank-themed event where they pitched their idea in front of an esteemed panel of judges
Watch the Fox4 News Story about What’s Your Pitch
We are so grateful to the extraordinary educators at FGCU and ITECH whose ongoing commitment to our students always seems to shine just a bit brighter during the summer months.
Please take a moment to watch highlights of our extraordinary summer programs and internships.
