Students learn importance of higher education

Manassas, Va. - About a dozen teenagers from the Manassas and Hylton boys and Girls Club visited the Manassas Campus of Northern Virginia Community College last week as art of a new summer program for teenagers.

The youth, ages 15 to 18, were welcomed to the campus by Dean of Students Mark Kidd who talked about the importance of attending college.

The teenagers also learned about opportunities available to them while they are still in high school, such as dual enrollment.

Jenni Barlet explained NVCC's dual enrollment program which allows high school students to earn both high school and college credit for the same classes and gives students a head start on college.

NVCC Counselor Asante Clarke presented a motivational program on turning dreams into reality.

"We had a very interactive session about choosing the right career and how the students can accom-plish their goals," Clarke said.

"The students were extremely talkative and involved. We discussed ways to overcome obstacles and challenges and they gave me lots of feedback. They were a great group and we had a lot of energy in the room," she added.

After lunch in the cafeteria, the students participated in a hands-on biotechnology experiment led by NVCC biology instructors Brenda Rodman and Alen Karamian. After donning white lab coats and blue gloves, the students learned to use pipettes to pick up small amounts of liquids to prepare a gel for DNA analysis.

'The teenagers were very engaged and seemed really interested in learning the proper tech-niques," Rodman said. "They understand about forensics because they see it on so many television programs."

According to Lylliam Rodman, teen director for the Manassas Boys and Girls Club, the summer teen camp is a new program this year designed to expose teenagers to a wide variety of experiences such as career prep workshops, higher education opportunities, community service projects, and indoor and outdoor sports. The campers have also been going on field trips to fun places such as Kings Dominion and the National Zoo.

"The program was designed to provide the teenagers with a balance between recreational activities and preparation for entering college and the workforce. The teens take part in weekly workshops on college and career prep, as well as computer workshops in photo and video editing with their final project being posted on our website," said Rodriguez.

Some of the partners of the program beside NVCC include Kohl's, Taco Bell, Old Navy, Prince William SPCA, Manassas ATCT, City of Manassas, Project Infusion and the Prince William County Sher-iff's Office.

Participant Lauren Jackson said "I enjoyed the entire day ... but particularly the science pro-ject."

Destiny Moore said "I learned a lot. I was thinking about a career in DNA testing and it was great working in the lab today."

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707