Camps & careers

Teens can get a glimpse into future jobs in aviation, metalwork, sailing

BY ANDREA NOVEL BUCK

Twin Ports area teens can try their hand at welding at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College’s Mind Over Metal Camp, get acquainted with all aspects of the aviation industry at Lake Superior College’s Aviation Academy, or learn to sail through the Duluth-Superior Sailing Association — to touch on a few local camp offerings.

Aviation Academy

(One-week session beginning June 17, 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., for teens 15 to 19. Cost: Free. For more information, go to www.lsc.edu/summer-camps/. Select either the Women in Aviation cohort or Aviation Co-Ed cohort.)

Maybe it’s the high fences, the barbed wire, the belief that the only way to get onto an airport is to go through a TSA checkpoint, Dan Traska said of a perceived barrier to entry into the aviation industry. The director of LSC’s Center for Advanced Aviation sees the summer Aviation Academy as a way to break down that barrier.

The academy showcases every aspect of aviation — flying, manufacturing, maintenance and repair, a bit of history.

Campers take “discovery flights” in small planes and helicopters, operate flight simulators and — for fun — launch foam airplanes off therapy stretch bands on a makeshift runway. They explore all areas of aircraft maintenance and repair from avionics and engines to fuel systems and riveting/sheet metal. They tour Cirrus airplane manufacturer, the AAR airplane maintenance facility, the 148th Air National Guard, the control tower at Duluth International Airport, the Sky Harbor Airport and Seaplane Base, suppliers such as Ikonics, SCS Interiors and American Precision Avionics, the Bong Museum and Commemorative Air Force. They hear and learn from commercial airline pilots, LifeLink helicopter pilots, mechanics and others involved in the industry.

“If you have any inkling aviation might be for you, this is one way to find out what it’s like,” said Will Beecroft, LSC aviation maintenance instructor in charge of the camp.

Mind Over Metal

(One-week session beginning July 29, 1 to 4 p.m., for teens 13 and older. For more information, go to www.witc.edu and search for College for Kids Classes: Summer 2019.)

“WITC opens doors to students to be exposed to this career possibility,” welding instructor and program director Aleasha Hladilek, said of the summer camp session she teaches. “I wish I had these opportunities when I was in high school.”

Instead, she was tracked for college, took Advanced Placement courses in high school and earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology. Days spent making futons for Global Village convinced her she wanted to work with her hands. Eventually she earned her welding certification, working as a welder in the aviation and shipping industries, plus a master’s degree in education.

The camp gives teens a taste of basic welding by fabricating metal plaques with their names and metal boxes. Campers learn to cut metal using a computer-controlled CNC plasma cutter. And they learn two different types of handheld welding: oxyacetylene welding and stick welding.

“It’s a very interactive class,” Hladilek promise campers. “You will be learning a new skill.”

The first day is spent on safety. Campers have use of the school’s welding jackets, welding hoods and safety glasses. Leather gloves, leather boots and thick pants are required. Hladilek maintains a controlled environment for safety.

“I’m always pleasantly surprised how quickly my young students catch on to welding,” Hladilek said. “They all want to be here.”

She issues parents one warning: “You might have to buy your child a welder after this.”

Sailing for All

(One-week sessions beginning June 24, July 15 and July 29 for teens 12 to 16; July 8, July 22 and Aug. 5 for kids 7 to 11. Cost: $300. For more information, go to www.sailingforall. org or attend the DSSA open house, noon to 4 p.m., June 15 at its bayside sailing pier near the Park Point Beach House.)

Your teen could be sailing around the Duluth-Superior Harbor on a 13-foot Laser Class this summer.

DSSA Sailing for All camps prepare teens (and kids as young as 7, although on smaller 8-foot Optimist prams) to sail a small boat independently or crew on a bigger one. All sailing is done on the Superior Bay and Duluth Harbor Basin within eyesight of certified sailing instructors.

The camp offers a week of sailing basics: launching, rigging, raising the sails, departing a dock, maneuvering, tacking, sailing in different types of wind and weather, safely bringing the boat back to dock, unrigging, and putting it away for the day. Campers are on the water six to seven hours each day.

The week begins with a lesson on how to capsize and bring the boat back up. Other highlights: playing sponge tag, which involves skillfully maneuvering your sailboat close enough to another to toss a sponge on board thus making that sailor “it,” sails down to the Superior entry and up to the Duluth

Harbor entry/Aerial Lift Bridge, and the experience of sailing as part of a crew on a bigger boat.

Campers need to know how to swim, and to remember to bring warm gear along with their sunscreen, sunglasses and swimsuits. “We take advantage of the good weather and the nasty weather,” Waterfront Director Zach Lange said, noting that a heavy wind can make for a more exciting day. Only lightning and winds of more than 20 mph will keep campers off the water.

A DSSA membership is included, which means accomplished campers can come back anytime that summer and take a boat out for open sailing.

“After one week of sailing, you’re going to have a good grasp of sailing,” Lange said. “But the thing is to come back.” Returning campers are set up in a boat they’re most comfortable handling and, like all new members, kept “in eyesight,” about a half-mile from the pier.

“It’s enough of an introduction for an older teenager to get on a Duluth Yacht Club boat,” said Jim Sharrow, DSSA board president.