FHTCC NEWS RELEASES

Florida Hospital, UCF Institute for Simulation & Training Host High School Students at Florida High Tech Corridor “techCAMP”

High School Girls Explore Modeling, Simulation and Training Industry to Learn Potential of High Tech Careers

Orlando, Fla. (June 23, 2010) –Today more than 40 high school girls from Oviedo High School and Winter Springs High School are visiting Central Florida’s top Modeling, Simulation and Training (MS&T) facilities to learn about the career opportunities of this growing high tech field.  Students will visit the Nicholson Center for Surgical Advancement at Florida Hospital Celebration Health campus and the University of Central Florida Institute for Simulation and Training Mobile Devices and Robotics Labs to learn about the many aspects of the MS&T sector.

During the techCAMP field trip hosted by the Florida High Tech Corridor Council (FHTCC), students will interact with professionals in high tech fields and learn about the many career opportunities these fields have to offer.  They will tour labs and facilities and have the opportunity to ask questions of the presenters in order to gain an understanding of the industry and the career opportunities it presents.

“This techCAMP provides a fun way to share information about a range of technical career fields with students.  It is especially important to introduce young girls to STEM fields, because they are historically less likely to enter into high tech careers,” said Jeff Bindell, Ph.D., director of the techPATH Educational Consortium and lecturer in physics at the University of Central Florida. 

An initiative of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, techPATH is focused on cultivating tomorrow’s workforce.  Through this initiative, representatives of the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida, the University of Florida, local community colleges and K-12 systems develop programs aimed at encouraging students to pursue high tech careers. 

This MS&T techCAMP is hosted in partnership with Seminole State College’s Tri-Regional Information Technology program, a three-year program funded by a National Science Foundation $1.5 million grant that provides after-school technology experiences to high school girls.

This is the latest of more than 60 techCAMPs hosted by FHTCC since 1998.  More than 500 students and 2,300 educators in the Corridor’s 23-county region have participated in techCAMP workshops and field trips in industries such as Biomedicine, Optics & Photonics, Information Technology and Microelectronics.

About techPATH
An initiative of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council, techPATH is focused on cultivating tomorrow’s workforce.  Through this initiative, representatives of the University of Central Florida, the University of South Florida, the University of Florida, local community colleges and K-12 systems develop programs aimed at encouraging students to pursue high tech careers.  The signature offering of techPATH, techCAMPs are high tech workshops offered to middle and high school math, science, technology and career education teachers, to provide information about the industrial sectors that make up the Corridor.

About FHTCC
The Florida High Tech Corridor Council (FHTCC) is an economic development initiative of the University of Central Florida (UCF), the University of South Florida (USF) and the University of Florida (UF) whose mission is to grow high tech industry and innovation through research, workforce and marketing partnerships.

The unique partnership has resulted in a strategic approach to high tech economic development that involves matching funds research, workforce development and a marketing program leveraging governmental, EDO and corporate budgets on a regional rather than local basis.

For more information, visit www.floridahightech.com.