Bell Textron Inc. continues tradition of supporting camps for kids at AC

For years, Bell Textron Inc., formerly known as Bell Helicopter, has supported Amarillo College (AC) and its Kids’ College by presenting educational summer camps that aim to help develop the future workforce, and that tradition continues this month at AC.

The Bell Flight Camp for area middle school students will be conducted during the week of July 15, with the first three meetings (July 15-17) in session from 1-5 p.m. on the Washington Street Campus in Room 406 of the Byrd Building. The camp’s capstone session will be on Thursday, July 18 and entails a tour of the Bell facility, followed by a visit to the Texas Air & Space Museum.

“Our partnership with Amarillo College in the summer is ideal as we look to grow our workforce here in Amarillo,” said Sonja Clark, site leader for Bell’s Amarillo Assembly Center. “A large portion of our future workforce are in middle school and high school right now, and to have the opportunity to start showing these students the career possibilities at Bell through our Flight Camp is only the beginning of our strategy for future growth.”

At Bell’s Flight Camp, students learn about the forces of flight, engineering disciplines that support aerospace production, manufacturing techniques, teamwork, and more based on Bell’s mission to define the future of advanced air mobility.

Bell’s Amarillo Assembly Center is home to the assembly and final delivery of military aircraft such as the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, an aircraft that has fundamentally changed how the U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy operate in combat and humanitarian operations.

Bell’s workforce in Amarillo is comprised mainly of skilled mechanics, engineers, and supply chain personnel along with a variety of other support functions needed to support the assembly and flight operations of these military aircraft. Amarillo College was integral in developing Bell’s workforce in the early 2000s with the increased deliveries for the V-22.

For more information about Bell’s Flight Camp, or the more than 70 other Kids’ College camps being conducted this summer by AC, please contact Tiffany Van Buren, Kids’ College Coordinator, at 806-626-1843.