Students from schools throughout CCSD recently participated in the inaugural Spark Force Advanced Manufacturing Career Camp staged at Jerry Zucker Middle School.

Over the week of July 6-10, 2026, students learned about the wide range of high demand, high wage advanced manufacturing career pathways that await them in the Charleston region. For the week long camp’s project-based learning activity, students were tasked with designing and fabricating either a functioning small  boat or a submarine using a limited number of crafting supplies.

4 Career Connected Learning Field Trips

At Patriots Point, campers got to tour the historic USS Yorktown and experience the sensational and fully immersive Flight Academy program.

At Newport News Shipbuilding in Goose Creek, students got to see the advanced manufacturing process for our US Navy’s Columbia-class submarines up close.

At Collins Machine Works located on the former US Navy Base in Charleston, students got to see the advanced manufacturing process up close for the giant driveshafts that propel submarines and ships.

And, to wrap up a terrific week of career connected learning, campers, their families, and industry partners enjoyed a culminating event hosted at the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce headquarters in North Charleston.

Other key champions and supporters of this career camp included Keel Charleston, Leonardo DRS, the US Navy’s Maritime Industrial Base (MIB) Education Initiatives / BuildSubmarines.com, the Fabricators and Manufacturers Association (FMA), and SparkForce, the FMA Foundation.

Thank you to 0ur career camp Lead Teachers Kevin Fast and Traxler Littlejohn.

Thank you to our supporting CTE Career Specialist Lauren Soodoo, and our 3 outstanding summer interns, Felicia Mitchell from North Charleston HS, Anastacia Colio from Wando HS, and Isabella Reilly from Academic Magnet HS.

And, thank you to Jerry Zucker MS principal Chris Haynes and his awesome team for hosting our career camp.