Williamsburg native Matthew Oehmann attends Explore Your Future camp

Williamsburg native Matthew Oehmann recently participated in a national career discovery camp for deaf and hard-of-hearing students at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Oehmann, a Jamestown High School junior, attended the Explore Your Future camp this July at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf on the Rochester Institute of Technology campus in Rochester, N.Y. According to a press release from the institute, the six-day camp included more than 200 students from around the country.

The camp featured several career exploration courses, including computer art design, lab science technology, business, computing and engineering, according to the release. This was the first year a course involving health care careers was also included in the program.

The institute added the health care class following a recent report from the national Task Force on Health Care Careers for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing Community. Fewer than six percent of deaf people in the labor force are employed in the health care profession, compared with almost 10 percent of non-deaf people, according to the release.

Congress established the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in 1965 to provide opportunities for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in technical fields, according to the release. Over 1,500 students are currently enrolled at the institute.

For more information about the program, contact Greg Livadas by calling 585-475-6217 or emailing gjlnod@rit.edu.

Filed under: SCHOOLS