Summer Manufacturing Camp Grant

Grants and in-kind support to USA technical high schools, community colleges, and organizations for summer camps for middle and high school students. Funding is intended to introduce students to a wide range of manufacturing processes and encourage employment in the field. Eligible schools are those that offer a degree program or curriculum that leads to a career in manufacturing, can provide adequate facilities and staffing, and is capable of offering instruction on entrepreneurship. In addition to the monetary awards, NBT provides each camp with curriculum guides for campers and instructors, customized T-shirts with camp and sponsors’ logos, 365-day licenses for the student version of SolidWorks software, marketing support, and other class materials, as needed.

Guidelines and expectations for running an NBT summer manufacturing camp.

• Manufacturing Focus: Schools must currently have a degree program or training curriculum that leads to a career in manufacturing. The school should also offer coursework focused on business entrepreneurship.
• Product Design and Build: Schools must propose an idea for a product(s) that campers will design and build during the camp. Ideally, the camp will introduce students to CAD design software (SolidWorks licenses are included with the grant) to create a product idea, expose them to a variety of shop equipment or machinery to build it, and show them how to bring their product idea to life.
• Plant Tours and Speakers: Schools should propose at least two community partner(s) and/or local manufacturers to provide a tour and/or a guest speaker. The tours and speakers should serve to expose students to the local manufacturing industry and career opportunities.
• Number of Participants: NBT recommends a minimum of 12 participants per camp.
• Camp Hours: NBT recommends a minimum of 25 hours for a one-week camp or 45 hours for a two-week camp.
• Age Range: NBT’s target audience for summer manufacturing camps is middle- and high-school aged girls and boys, ages 12-16.
• Tuition: NBT recommends that camps charge participants a minimum fee of $59 for a one-week camp or $99 for a two-week camp.
• Forms and Documentation: In addition to the online application, NBT requests important information from camp directors before, during, and after the camp. Directors must agree to submit or administer on a timely basis the following: marketing form (within 30 days of grant notice); pre- and post-camp online surveys (first and last day of camp); camp evaluation and financial report (within 30 days of final day of camp).
• Marketing: Camps are expected to recruit the minimum number of participants and will be asked to provide marketing plans and strategies for promoting the camp to their communities and through local school districts.