Registration is now open for the popular career exploration-themed College of the Canyons Summer Institute, with weekly sessions running July 9-13 and July 16-20 for students entering grades 6-8 in fall 2018.

The goal of the Summer Institute is to provide hands-on career exploration and learning opportunities to students in a variety of areas and subjects including robotics, video game design, sports medicine, health and human services, science pathway, photography, architecture, computer coding, auto technology and manufacturing/welding.

All Summer Institute instructors are COC professors or industry professionals who have tailored their curriculum for grades 6-8 in mind.

Each track allows participating students to discover a multitude of career possibilities through a unique blend of innovative lesson plans and fun hands-on activities that are scheduled each week.

“The COC Summer Institute is much more than your typical summer camp, and we have added several new camps this year,” said Mark Carr, Summer Institute coordinator. “It’s an opportunity for your child to discover a potential career path, and have some fun at the same time.”

All 2018 COC Summer Institute sessions begin at 9 a.m. and conclude at 3 p.m. Enrollment fees are $275 per child per week.

The 2018 Summer Institute weekly schedule of classes is listed below:

* July 9 to 13 (M/T/W/Th/F) — Video Game Design; Robotics; Photography; Architecture; Health and Human services; Auto Technology; Girls Who Code

* July 16 to 20 (M/T/W/Th/F) — Video Game Design; Robotics; Photography; Sun, Wind and Fire; Sports Medicine; Science Pathway

In addition, this year’s Summer Institute will host a CyberPatriot camp from July 16 to 20 in collaboration with the Air Force Association’s CyberCamp program.

As an AFA CyberCamp host, the Summer Institute will receive software and a hands-on curriculum kit designed to teach students cyber safety, cyber ethics, and critical network security skills and tools.

Each AFA CyberCamp will culminate in an exciting team-based competition that puts the campers in the role of IT administrators tasked with finding and addressing cybersecurity vulnerabilities in simulated network environments.

The local AFA CyberCamp competitions will closely mimic AFA’s annual CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, which will enter its eleventh season in October.

“We are very excited to have been selected to participate in this year’s season of the Air Force Association’s CyberCamp program,” Carr said. “This camp will teach students about the importance of cybersecurity in today’s society.”

The CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Education Program was created by the Air Force Association in 2009 to attract students to cybersecurity and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines critical to our nation’s future. To learn more about CyberPatriot, visit the program’s website.

For more information, visit the Community Education web page.