More than two dozen South Park middle school students gave up a week of summer sunshine to spend time indoors leaning about nuts and bolts and "thingamajigs" -- a new way to look at jobs in manufacturing.

Students attended the Gateway Camp, sponsored by a number of firms and a national foundation and held in the technology lab at South Park Middle School. The camp's mission is to raise students' awareness of engineering and manufacturing.

"We want to show kids that the jobs in the manufacturing industry aren't done in a sweaty, hot environment any more," said instructor Josh Cramer, who has taught applied engineering at the middle school for five years.

"These are now clean, high-tech jobs," he said.

And, they are in demand.

"Our region is actually thriving in that environment and there are lots of companies hiring. We are opposite of what is going on in much of the United States right now," he said.

Last week's camp was the final of three held this summer; more than 100 students attended.

This is the third year for the camp, which is free to students. It is funded by Westinghouse Electric; Kennametal; the group Nuts Bolts & Thingamajigs, founded by actor John Ratzenberger; the Society of Automotive Engineers; and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Foundation.

"It's one of two camps in Pennsylvania and probably a handful on the East Coast that is totally free," Mr. Cramer said.

The 31 fifth- and sixth-grade students at last week's camp developed three different types of small "vehicles": Gravity vehicles, which use gravity to move forward; compressed air vehicles that run on water and air; and fuel cell vehicles, which run on hydrogen.

Campers competed for the best vehicle in the categories of speed, distance and design.

They also completed a "wood burn," engraving their names into a piece of wood using a laser cutting system.

"These kids can touch equipment that some high schools don't even have and they are only in middle school," Mr. Cramer said.

Campers worked with a laser cutting system; a laser engraver; a Computer Numerical Control system, which cuts out a 3-D model; 3-D parametric modeling software, a 3-D rapid prototype for printing a real object in plastic; and a 3-D scanner which can scan a clay model into a printer to be viewed in 3-D.

Thanks to some grants and fundraising -- $220,000 over the past two years -- the school has been able to purchase this equipment for its Applied Engineering Technology lab at the middle school.

"We're going to come here in a year for an actual class and now we already know some of this stuff," said Joel Santoro, a sixth grader.

There's no lecture time here, just hands-on experience.

"We teach kids science and math formally throughout the school year. Here, we figured out speed and distance for the vehicles we made; it's pretty much algebra but in a summer camp setting," Mr. Cramer said.

The week ended with an "auto show" for kids to display their portfolio of work from the week for parents.

"Mr. Cramer is a good teacher," said Jenna Moses, a sixth grader, who said she enjoyed using the computer system the most and fashioned a "beach car" for her fuel cell vehicle.

Popular with his students, Mr. Cramer was nominated by some of his pupils last April and was one of twelve teachers nationally to receive the "Building the Future Award" sponsored by 3M and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Education Association.

The school is now in application status to become one of the only certified middle schools in Pennsylvania for the project "Lead the Way," a national engineering curriculum of which the school already offers two classes.