Middle school students explore programs at Warren County Technical School

FRANKLIN TWP. | Nick Mino has helped his mother cook dinner and even made pancakes on his own, but last week the 12-year-old was bringing his culinary skills to a kitchen at Warren County Technical School.

Nick was learning to bake cookies and preparing cupcakes with purple frosting. He hopes to cook beef empanadas within the next few weeks. While he might be spending his summer mornings in a school, Nick said the experience beats sitting in his Phillipsburg home, watching TV and being bored.

"It wouldn't be as fun as what I'm doing now," said Nick, who is entering seventh grade at Sts. Philip and James School.

With the high school students gone for summer break, a younger crowd has arrived at Warren Tech this month for Prospect TECH, a new program aimed at introducing middle school students to the courses offered at the technical school.

For the last two weeks, the 45 students enrolled in the month-long program have been wrapping their minds around an array of subjects, including engineering, welding, child care, theater arts and video production. The students are entering sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

The program eases the transition for students moving to the high school level and provides a glimpse of the reality behind working in certain careers, said Christopher Kinney, director of student services at Warren Tech.

"A lot of these kids see stuff glamorized on TV, and they're not grounded in any way," Kinney said.

The interaction with the Prospect TECH instructors also offers an advantage to the program, Kinney said. Instead of simply looking in a brochure, students can apply a face and a personality to the different study areas, he said.

"A brochure cannot tell you that," Kinney said. "That's something that a personal experience like this can give."

Larger enrollment sought

This year's enrollment represents a fraction of the roughly 2,500 mailers about the program sent to Warren County households, but through word-of-mouth and an earlier recruitment effort, Warren Tech should be able to attract more students next year, Kinney said.

After his mother recommended attending Prospect TECH, 13-year-old Lopatcong Township resident James Erdman said he initially didn't like the idea, thinking it would be boring and nothing but class work.

"Well, looks like I was wrong, and I'm glad that I was wrong," James said.

For James, the best part of the experience has been working with machines in the welding class. James and a handful of other students have been studying how to cut copper pipes for rubber-band-powered cars.

The students are learning design skills and "how not to burn their fingers when they solder," said Sam Akin, the metal fabrication instructor.

Glimpse at engineering

In a nearby classroom, some of the engineering students were working on dragsters. The students designed the cars out of Styrofoam before the instructor applied their designs to pieces of balsa wood.

Sean McGeough, the engineering instructor, said the students have to understand the trade-offs between designing their cars for style or speed.

Having designed a dragster with a front incline to cut through the air, 12-year-old Brian Zyck was going for speed.

The Hope Township resident said he joined the engineering class to do more hands-on work. Never one to just sit around the house, Brian recalled how he and his father took apart an old TV several years ago to learn how the electronics worked.

"We just threw it out the day after," he said.

Brian said he wants to attend Warren Tech, but his Prospect TECH classmate, 13-year-old Frankie Iannone, isn't so sure. The engineering course has been challenging, Frankie said.

"I like doing this because it shows me what the school's like. I like how it's hands on and the good thing about this is every teacher is an expert in their field," said Frankie, who lives in Liberty Township. "I'm curious. I don't know what's for me yet."