The University of the Witwatersrand’s David Webster Hall of Residence hosted 200 young boys and girls from different schools across the Johannesburg Education districts. The districts represented were Johannesburg North, Johannesburg South, Johannesburg East, Johannesburg West and Johannesburg Central. The learners arrived at the site on Saturday, the 8th of July, and started with their activities on the 9th. Next Engineers Johannesburg hosts the program's only residential Engineering Camp, so learners stay with at Wits University for the full week. The main focus of the Camp was to immerse the learners in the engineering process through interactions with experienced engineering faculty, staff, and business leaders as they complete design challenges inspired by real-world scenarios, building an identity as aspiring engineers.
In between all the learning and interacting with professionals, the learners also took part in various fun activities such as evening games, quizzes, talent show and war cry challenges. These activities were not only meant to be fun, but to build team spirit in order for the learners to be able to work together, as they are from different backgrounds. Not even the snow could stop the learners from fully experiencing Engineering Camp and have their fair share of fun. The GE City Team joined in too, as they played with the learners in the snow and took pictures with them.
The campers went on lab tours, visiting the different engineering labs at the university. They were able to learn more about the different machinery and equipment used by engineers in their respective fields, and put into perspective the information learned from the talks with the GE Engineers.
Overall, the Camp was a massive success as all 200 learners completed the 2023 Camp session! We look forward to yet another successful collaboration between the GE Foundation, FHI 360, PROTEC and the University of the Witwatersrand in giving learners a fun, yet informative, Camp session in 2024!
