Video of ribbon cutting on August 4, 2023
Provided information
Twenty 6th -10th grade students used math, process thinking skills, power tools, safety equipment, and the power of teamwork to build a picnic pavilion at the Fleming Hill Area at the Genesee County Park & Forest this past week in East Bethany.
Camp Hard Hat is in its ninth year of operation and is a special partnership between Genesee County Park & Forest, the Genesee County Business/Education Alliance, Livingston Associates, Builders Exchange of Rochester, and GVBOCES Building Trades Program.
Led by GVBOCES Building Trades instructors Rich Monroe and Kelly Mileham, Camp Hard Hat promotes skilled trade careers and teaches local youth the value of learning to build a community project with their hands. In addition to learning the principles of design, construction, and safety, campers also learned more about different skilled trade careers from guest speakers and industry leaders like Bill Hayes (former owner of Turnbull HVAC), Tim Hull of the North Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters (NASRCC),
Lindsie Cook from Livingston Associates, and Taylor McCabe from McCabe Enterprises Electrical Contractor. (Provided press release information.)
The Genesee County Park & Forest provided nature activities for Camp Hard Hat students during the week so that students also learned to appreciate all that the park has to offer.
Campers completed the picnic pavilion project on Friday August 4th, and a dedication ceremony was held compliments of the Genesee County Chamber of Commerce during the afternoon, with Hard Hat Campers and their families, instructors and sponsors in attendance.
Fernando Cacho, a Junior at LeRoy High School has been involved with Camp Hard Hat for the past three years, this year was his first year as a Student Camp Counselor. “You learn a bunch of different skills from working with different equipment like impacts and drills, learning how to build pavilions, learning how to set trusses,” says Cacho.
He says you also have to learn to work as a team and you get to meet a lot of people.
“I went into this camp originally thinking I wanted to do construction, but that’s not what I am going into. The takeaway from this is you still have skills that you are going to be using whether you are going into construction or not. At camp we always say straight square, plum level, which is the saying for making sure everything is set straight to a point to have a certain standard of working. This definitely leaves you with life skills that you can use for any sort of area.”
Cacho is hoping to return as a Student Camp Counselor next year and then plans on attending college to study medicine and become an Emergency Room Physician.
Campers
- Alex Boldt
- Cole Breton
- Braden Clare
- Teaghan Freeman
- Olivia Gillard
- Joshua Haurik
- Jaxon Jones
- Keller Kilby
- Joal Lang
- Ian McGary
- John McJury
- Harrison McPhee
- Ayden Midkiff
- Desean Mileham
- Priscilla Reed
- Aristina Riedel
- Tucker Ripstein
- Bryce Thompson
- Brody Traxler
- Ayden Waggoner
Camp Staff & Volunteers
- Rich Monroe – Instructor (GVBOCES)
- Kelly Mileham – Instructor (GVBOCES)
- Fernando Cacho – Student Camp Counselor (LeRoy HS)
- Anna McLaughlin – Student Camp Counselor (Byron-Bergen HS)
- Paul Osborn – Genesee County Deputy Highway Superintendent of Facilities, Parks, Recreation, & Forestry
- Karyn Winters – Genesee County BEA Director
- Anita Strollo – Genesee County BEA Program Coordinator
- Rhonda Rittenhouse-Norton – Camp Nurse Director
- Shannon Lyaski – Genesee County Park & Forest Conservation Education Program Coordinator
- Jim Schmitt – Genesee County Parks ACORN Volunteer
- George Squires – Genesee County Parks ACORN Volunteer
- Calista Light – Environmental Education Assistant
- Kylie Tatarka – Watershed Education Assistant