Middle schoolers get an early look at career pathways in Summer Breeze 2022

All three Dallas ISD Career Institutes (CI) are hosting summer camps that introduce middle school students to the career and technical education pathways offered at their campuses.

The sixth- and seventh-grade scholars who are part of Summer Breeze 2022 are training for various careers using industry-standard equipment in state-of-the-art facilities while learning about the free programs available to them.

Throughout high school, students who join a Career Institute train for high-demand, high-wage jobs in facilities supported by industry partners where they can obtain official certifications and dual credit prior to graduation. All Dallas ISD traditional high schools offer access and free transportation to and from a CI campus. This summer, each CI opened its doors to all sixth- and seventh-grade students who will attend the high schools the CI serves.

For example, the Charmaine & Robert Price Career Institute (also known as CI South) serves Sunset, South Oak Cliff, Franklin D. Roosevelt, L.G. Pinkston, Moisés E. Molina, Justin F. Kimball, David W. Carter, and W.H. Adamson high schools. This year, the CI South summer camp hosted over 200 students in two weeks.

The middle school students attending the CI South summer program experienced hands-on activities in the classrooms where high school students train for various careers during the school year. Every scholar had time to learn the basics of masonry and mixing concrete. In cybersecurity class, students practiced programming with Code.org assignments and virtual activities designed by Texas A&M computer science students. In entrepreneurship class, they drafted their own plan for how to run a profitable lemonade stand, and in aviation they built their own rocket after learning about aerodynamics.

“I want them to have exposure to career opportunities that they had not dreamt of,” said Adrienne Jones, CI South’s director. “A lot of kids don’t dream about becoming a plumber, owning their own business, or being a cybersecurity expert. We’re here to expand their scope of career opportunities.”

Dallas ISD is offering dozens of free district-created summer learning programs at designated campuses as part of Summer Breeze 2022, including two weeks of CI summer programs for students in sixth and seventh grade. As at CI South, CIs North and CI East hosted pioneering sixth- and seventh-grade students who wanted to learn more about the amazing career pathways they offered.

All incoming ninth graders can apply to join a CI by talking to their school counselor. Find out more about the various programs available at our three CIs at https://www.dallasisd.org/careerinstitutes. To learn more about the available free summer programs, follow this link: Summer Breeze 2022.