Some of the teens at the Career Kaleidoscope Youth Summer Camp were intently watching as Chef Andrew Early III was taking them through the steps needed to create an award-winning brunch.
BCC HOSTS 50 KIDS
Chef Andrew Early III was the culinary arts teacher specializing in cooking chicken and waffles to the kids at Bladen Community College’s Career Kaleidoscope Youth Summer Camp.
Christy Burney is the cosmetology instructor at Bladen Community College. She said that her and her cosmetology staff had a blast with the kids. The teens got a chance to practice on each other while the younger kids had a chance to work on their own “little people.”
One of the younger kids showed off his “little person” that he had a chance to beautify. The kids learned how to braid hair and do other little things to make their little people beautiful.
DUBLIN – Bladen Community College held a successful Kaleidoscope Youth Summer Camp 2025 at the college June 9 – 12. The day-long camp included breakfast, snacks and lunch.
For the first year, BCC offered two different camps which included one for kids and one for teens. The day-campers came and spent four days learning hands-on activities taught by the faculty at BCC.
Career KaleidoscopeYouth Summer Camp for Kids offers a wide variety of camp experiences designed for kids ages 6 – 11 in rising first – fifth grades. Students will explore careers in Nursing, Agriculture, Emergency Services and Cosmetology.
Career Kaleidoscope Youth Summer Camp for Teens is designed for young teens ages 11 – 16 in rising grades 6 – 10. This camp offers unique immersive learning experiences in Nursing, Agriculture, Cosmetology and Culinary Arts. The kids were also privy to some incredible snack and lunch time activities including spending time in a teaching auditorium where they could watch special shows and cartoons on the big screen.
“All of the kids go and experience some of the career fields and degree opportunities that we have here at Bladen Community College,” Karen Rideout, community enrichment facilitator said. “For example, nursing, cosmetology, culinary arts, workforce development, agricultural science; so everybody gets an experience in some of those fields. It’s called the ‘career kaleidoscop’ in careers.”
The kids were having a blast, learned a lot and got a good taste of experiencing education in a higher ed setting.
“Today our younger students had cosmetology and our older students are in culinary along with some experience with workforce development and they are getting a tour of the facility along with being able to run the truck simulator,” she said. “We’ve been having so much fun.”
There were 50 students enrolled in summer camp and they kept the educators busy. There were 20 teenagers and 30 younger kids.
“It’s been a great experience,” Rideout said. “Every year we try to improve it a little more. The new class just for teens is new this year and their experiences with the classroom teachers are more immersive and more hands-on. So, in nursing, they work with the mannequins and they would do more things that a nurse would do. Eventually, we would love to see these kids here at this college or ‘a’ college so that they can get a career. We offer so many varieties of courses and careers.”
In the culinary arts classes the kids were busy making waffles and chicken. The instructor, Chef Andrew Early III made a big impression on the teens. He asked some great questions to peak the student’s interests and kept them included.
“Today we are using a cutting glove when we are actually cutting,” Early said. “Should I put the glove on the hand that’s holding the knife or the hand that’s not holding the knife. Now. When you are preparing poultry, who can give me a wild guess on what they think the right temperature is?”
The students not only had the questions all answered, they prepared a delicious meal and some even licked the plates.
Christy Burney who is a cosmetology instructor for BCC had the rare challenge of teaching the younger kids to make toilet paper rolls look beautiful.
“We are having a blast,” Burney said. “My favorite part is seeing the excitement in the children as they learn how to do different things. Today we are working on little people. We have toilet paper rolls and we’re making hair and learning how to braid and how to do buns. We’re making little people. The older kids worked on each other yesterday and it was so fun.”
Mark DeLap is a journalist, photographer and the editor and general manager of the Bladen Journal. To see more of his bio, visit him at markdelap.com or email him. Send a message to: [email protected]