LAURINBURG — The Scotland County School CTE Summer Camp has more than doubled in the number of students it’s serving this year.

In the past, the camp, which caters to the career and technical education courses that are offered in the district, was open to just middle school students for a week. But this year the camp is open to students from grades six to 11 with a total of five weeks for the students to choose from.

Typically, the camp sees about 100 students. But according to CTE Director Jonathan McRae, between the programs at Spring Hill Middle School, Carver Middle School and Scotland High there have been about 380 students participating.

The expansion of the camp allows not just for more students to attend the camp but also for the students to be able to attend more classes based on what they’re interested in and to learn more about the courses they could be taking in the future.

“The first week went well — we had a lot of students who came and they got to do electrical, culinary and Adobe photoshop at the high school,” McRae said. “At the middle schools, we had drones, CPR, stop the bleed, which is another health science lesson, a STEM lesson and that was just for our kids in the morning who wanted to do the camp.”

McRae added there were two sets of lessons for students — the first was for those just participating in camp in the morning and the second was in the afternoon for students who have been a part of summer school classes.

“The kids have really been enjoying it and have had a good time,” McRae said. “We had several come last week who asked to sign up for this week … the students have been liking it. I think they’re enjoying getting to come back and seeing their friends but they’re also enjoying new skills. The ones in culinary have been taking food home, the drone kids have gotten to launch a rocket and fly a drone, the CPR kids some of them wanted to become babysitters and thought it was a skill they needed to have.”

For sixth-graders Briana Baucum and Joniyah Graham, Monday was their first day in the summer camp where they were learning some of the health science courses.

“It’s been fun getting to learn new things,” Graham said. “It’s been a lot of information. Next week I think I’m going to be taking how to draw blood or how to stop bleeds.”

Graham added she wanted to be an ICU nurse when she grows up and Baucum wants to be a cardiologist.

“I’ve learned a lot so far,” Baucum said. “Coming in I wasn’t sure which classes I was going to be taking. Next week I’m going to do CPR and how to draw blood.”

For Aleigha Phillips, an eighth-grader, it’s was her second week coming to camp and she’s planning on taking an array of classes with her future goal to be a teacher.

“I took drones last week, which was fun, but I crashed the drone once,” Phillips said. “It’s pretty fun getting to go from drones to health and I’m taking cooking classes later on.”

There is also a CTE Family Night event from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesdays in the media center at Scotland High with dinner provided and the themes changing each week. Along with guest speakers, the school system is partnering with the Laurinburg-Scotland County Area Chamber of Commerce and Richmond Community College to hold a job and education fair at the event to let parents and students know what’s available to them.

The CTE nights are culinary night on June 22, technology night on June 29, construction night on July 13 and digital marketing night on July 20.

For information, contact McRae at Scotland High School or email him at jmcrae@scotland.k12.nc.us.

Reach Katelin Gandee at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com