Tools

Inner city students take part in Science and Sports Camp and meet a U.S. Senator

By JOLEEN FERRIS

Story Created: Jul 5, 2011 at 6:02 PM EDT

Story Updated: Jul 5, 2011 at 6:02 PM EDT

HAMILTON, N.Y. (WKTV) - Some inner city students from as far away as New York City got a chance to rub shoulders Tuesday with a U.S. Senator.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand visited Colgate University on Tuesday, where she toured the school's science and geology labs and met with students taking part in the school's Science and Sports Camp.

"They're bringing the kids from inner cities up here to talk about science, to talk about engineering and one of the projects they're teaching the kids is how to build a solar car, a mini car," Senator Gillibrand said. "So, not only do they learn the science of it, what a solar panel is about, but the engineering of making a car move."

The camp targets students who normally would not have the opportunity to have this kind of exposure to science outside the high school classroom.

"It's very important in this tough economic time that our young people can see futures," she said. "See futures in upstate New York where they can become scientists, engineers, mathematicians."

The senator made an afternoon of it in upstate New York, visiting the Unison plant in Norwich. Gillibrand is on the Senate Armed Services Committee; Unison manufactures electrical components for aircraft.
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