The campers were a very bright and engaged group of 12-15 year-olds, with an equal mix of boys and girls. They attend a variety of public and a few private schools - seventeen schools were represented in all.

During the daily BSO sessions, we covered sales order processing, production planning, manufacturing and quality assurance, and billing and shipping. Each student placed an order for their desired rope length and color. They used a bar code reader to scan the order number and their name. They took turns entering their order details into the computer. Production requirements reports were then printed which provided the information needed to assemble the materials (rope, handles, and washers) needed for manufacturing. The jump ropes were assembled and scanned into the computer as finished goods. The final step was for each camper to take delivery of the product, scanning their name badges to indicate the completion of the billing process. During the entire process, the campers were able to experience real life business events such as techical glitches, raw material inventory concerns, and un-claimed finished product inventory. The campers did a great job grasping the importance of these problems in their company.

After the BSO sessions, the Library staff (John Lloyd and Hillary Pesson) spent the rest of each day coaching the students in the use of SCRATCH, an open source application for developing video games and presentations. They also worked with related programs such as Audacity for multi-media editing. Each student was issued a laptop to use for the week and was given a headset and flash drive they could take home and keep. The students worked to create projects such as a video game or music video.

The Saturday morning recognition ceremony, also held at the Benjamin L. Hooks Central Library, was an opportunity for parents and other family members to get involved. The program opened with an enlightening talk "Careers in IT" presented by Jana Markowitz. During the presentation, Jana made a convincing case that IT is relevant in virtually any career students might pursue. After Jana's talk, the campers spent time demonstrating what they learned by presenting their SCRATCH projects to SIM and family members. The program concluded at noon with each camper receiving a framed certificate.  

(2010 Teen Tech Camp Graduate Class)

Dennis Norton, Community Outreach Committee Chair, was delighted with SIM's member involvement this year. "Teen Tech Camp provides our members a number of opportunities to contribute - even if they can only spare an hour to join the kids for lunch on a Friday; it can make a difference in the life of a young person; it helps make Memphis a better community; and it builds relationships among SIM members. It was great fun working with Rick, Ed and Larry on Jumpstart, Inc., and gratifying to see so many other members coming out to support this important Outreach program."