June 21, 2005
Summer Connections Brings At-risk Youth to DMC Campus for Four-week Learning
Camp; Students Visiting Dental Assisting Lab on June 22
Learning activities bring students in touch with career possibilities while
building their confidence and desire to stay in school
WHO: Thirty (30) elementary school students from Oak Park and Coles Special
Emphasis Schools; Flint Hills Resources representatives, including Rich Tuttle,
Regional Director of Public Affairs; Del Mar College President Dr. Carlos A.
Garcia; Dr. Jesús Chavez, Superintendent of the Corpus Christi Independent
School District; Dr. Ridge Hammons, Summer Connections Program Coordinator with
the Corpus Christi Independent School District; and staff and faculty with the
College’s Dental Assisting Program
WHAT: Dental Assisting Learning Activity during the 2005 CCISD Summer
Connections Camp for At-Risk Youth
WHEN: 10 a.m., Wednesday, June 22
WHERE: Room 123 (Dental Assisting Lab), Garcia Health Sciences Building,
Del Mar College East Campus, Naples off Kosar at Staples (campus map available
at www.delmar.edu/maps/east.html)
VISUALS: Third to fifth graders from Oak Park and Coles Special Emphasis
Schools learning about the tasks that dental assistants fulfill in dentists’
offices, including assisting dentists with instruments and materials while patients
are sitting in the chair, maintaining front office operations and working with
computers, developing laboratory skills to fabricate appliances, assisting in
dental surgical procedures and orthodontic procedures and more.
Dental assistants also pour molds to create casts of patients’ teeth. This
year’s Summer Connections participants will pour their own molds and cast
plastic animals to learn about the techniques used to cast teeth.-more-
FYI: Now in its sixth year, the Summer Connections partnership among
Flint Hills Resources, Del Mar College, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
and the Corpus Christi Independent School District continues to open the world
for at-risk youth. Thirty students from Oak Park and Coles Special Emphasis
Schools are spending the first part of their summer learning about career and
vocational opportunities available through higher education at Del Mar College.
A similar program for middle school students from Wynn Seale Academy and Driscoll
Middle School takes place at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
The program, which is Corpus Christi Independent School District Summer Connections,
aims to keep these at-risk youth in school and encourage them to graduate from
high school and pursue a college or university education.
“Summer Connections keeps kids involved,” says Dr. Ridge Hammons,
program coordinator with CCISD. “These children have been identified by
their school counselors as ‘at-risk’ youth who have great potential
but come from disadvantaged circumstances.”
As part of the four-week camp at Del Mar College, students are previewing various
career and vocational options, including allied health fields, art, business
fields, dental skills, kinesiology, law enforcement, process technology and
sign language. Students’ daily activities also incorporate swimming classes
at the College’s natatorium each morning. Participants are also treated
to field trips to the U.S.S. Lexington Museum, the Texas State Aquarium, the
City Council and Mustang Island State Park.
During Wednesday’s learning activity, participants will learn about Del
Mar College’s Dental Assisting Program, which lasts 12 months and only
accepts 24 students each year. Once DMC Dental Assisting students complete the
program, they receive certificates or associate’s degrees, which qualifies
them to take the Dental Assisting National Board Examination to become certified
Dental Assistants who can work in all phases of dentistry.
Both camps end on July 1 with the Summer Connections partnership giving these
at-risk students the opportunity to see the world with a new perspective.
CONTACT: Dr. Ridge Hammons, CCISD Coordinator of Summer Connections,
at 361/815-6122 (cell)
-DMC-mce