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05.08.10 | Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation Helps Fund Science and Technology Summer Camp
Helena - Recently, the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation awarded a grant to the Career Training Institute (CTI) in Helena, Montana. This organization seeks to help all adults, youth, and business enterprises by providing training, employment, and enterprise development to match the ever-changing face and needs of their community.
Their newest project, the Inspiring Young Minds Under The Big Sky Camp, is the product of a paternership with the Montana Department of Labor and Industry and is the focus of the DPWF grant. With this camp, CTIs goals align closely with one of the Foundation’s primary giving areas - educating at-risk and low-income youth.
CTI will run this technology and science camp at the end of June and, in CTI’s own words, they, “will provide exhibits, interactive workshops and experiential activities that facilitate learning and exploration of selected topics that inspire curiosity and interest in related careers.”
Promoting the notion of hands-on learning, Exploration Works Museum of Science and Culture will house the camp. From air and space to geology, the camp seeks to introduce low-income, at risk youth to science and math-related career opportunities. These fields – known also as STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math) represent five (5) percent of the current workforce, but more than fifty (50) percent of the nation’s economic growth.
The options for young people looking at careers in these areas are many – the National Science Foundation has identified about 150 different college STEM-related majors. Nonetheless, women, minorities, and at-risk groups are still not training in these areas at the rate of other majority populations.
The Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation, supported in part by the Washington Companies of Montana Rail Link, Envirocon, Montana Resources, and Modern Machinery, fully recognizes the importance of educating today’s youth in the STEM fields.
“Today’s youth hold the keys to tomorrow in more ways than one. We must work to promote and provide access to education among all demographics in our society, but additionally, generating interest and enthusiasm for science and engineering fields is essential to any future progress in our industry,” says Lynda Frost, Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation Grants Committee Member and Montana Rail Link employee. “CTI and the Montana Department of Labor and Industry have created an exciting program that promises to work toward these goals.”
By reaching out to demographics with traditionally low participation rates in these careers, CTI hopes to inspire leaders of tomorrow to choose a path of secondary education in a STEM field while also ensuring that Montana and the United States remain competitive globally.
For more information on the camp, contact Sheila Hogan, CTI’s Executive Director, at (406) 443-0800 Ext. 18.
