Registration is open for KCC Black Rocket summer camps

Klamath Falls, Ore. – Registration is open for five Klamath Community College Black Rocket summer camps that provide a platform for youth to launch their creativity in coding and design.

The five-day camps are organized to provide a fun and exciting introduction to computer engineering, and are open to youth ages seven to 14 years old. Students can create Minecraft characters and buildings, create LEGO characters and adventures in an interactive 2-D video game, design 3-D creations, and more.

“One of the best ways to learn coding is to start at an early age working with things or activities that are fun,” said KCC Computer Engineering Instructor Pete Brandsness. “Our camps are a combination of summer camp, computer games, and learning to code, and they are designed to keep students engaged.”

The program’s six pillars of learning are creativity, technology, make it yourself, peer learning, 21st century skills, and project based camps, according to the Black Rocket website.

Most student-created games and computer-based projects created at the camps will be available to students at home through a protected Black Rocket website.

“Students currently in K-12 education are going to enter a workforce in which computer coding is considered a form of literacy, just like we consider reading and writing literacy today,” Brandsness said. “The camps will give students a fun and functional foundation for understanding how computer programs work in a world where more things are connected or controlled by computer software.”

KCC is offering the five camps July 8 through Aug. 9. The camps are $149 each. Scholarships may be available. Visit the KCC website for more information and camp descriptions, https://www.klamathcc.edu/Academics/Black-Rocket.