McKeesport Area School District: Career week featured at summer camp

By JEFF STITT

jstitt@yourmvi.com

The school year may be over for McKeesport Area School District students, but the district’s main campus is very much alive with activity and educational programming this summer.

Thanks to a partnership with Dick’s Sporting Goods Foundation, the district is hosting a six-week summer camp that is giving more than 300 children in kindergarten through eighth grade a chance to have fun, socialize and learn in a safe environment.

On Monday, as part of the summer camp’s Career Week, first responders from McKeesport’s fire and police departments and the McKeesport Ambulance Rescue Service brought fire trucks, police vehicles, an ambulance and K-9 officer Farkle to the McKeesport High School campus. Youngsters were given tours of the emergency vehicles, learned how equipment works and got to hear what it’s like to be a first responder.

A great summer to be a kid in McKeesport

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Tia Wanzo said officials from Dick’s Sporting Goods toured Twin Rivers Elementary School twice this year. 

After being impressed with the school and having a productive conversation with Wanzo and Superintendent Dr. Mark P. Holtzman Jr., officials from the company began asking, “What does the community need right now?” 

The school administrators explained they were looking to offer a comprehensive extracurricular summer program to give MASD students a chance to get back to normal academically and socially after the ramifications the coronavirus pandemic caused in schools and throughout society. 

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