By Lani Duke
Electric car owners with “range anxiety” find relief
RUTLAND—With the weather’s cooperation, Rutland’s electric car drivers may have the convenience of a public car charging station available. Installed on Cottage Street near West Street, the new Freedom Station was due to go into service the first week of April. It will provide users with as much as an additional 60 to 80 miles of travel. The new station provides two different kinds of charging: a 25-minute charge and a two-and-a-half-hour charge that requires less energy. It is anticipated to cost between $1.00 and $1.50 an hour to operate. Early in 2015 Green Mountain Power reported that Rutland County residents and businesses owned 24 electric vehicles, 22 of them hybrids.
Governor visits with Rutland Young Professionals
RUTLAND—Vermont’s governor recently visited with members of the Rutland Young Professionals, praising the changes he recognizes in the community, in a casual meeting at The Bakery on West Street. Attracting new business, especially the young professionals the group represents, was one of the hot topics. Shumlin and the RYPs also discussed affordable housing, including the rehabilitation/conversion of older commercial properties into residences with relatively easy access to jobs, shopping, and social activities.
Stafford Technical Center offers array of skill-building summer camps
RUTLAND—Summer may still seem far away, but lengthening days and climbing temperatures remind us that summer vacation will be here before long.
Rutland has offered a number of strong summertime programs for grade-school-age children, but middle-school youth don’t easily fit into a day camp or other recreational programs. Stafford Technical Center is stepping into this gap with programming that provides activity for this age group while providing an opportunity to learn valuable skills and gain personal confidence.
Rosie’s Girls Rutland, a two-week summer camp, opens the doors to those opportunities with introductions to carpentry, automotive and bicycle repair, electrical wiring and welding. Named for the “Rosie the Riveter ” archetype of women doing traditionally male jobs during World War II, the summer camp is a sub-program of Vermont Works for Women, held at several locations across the state and open to girls entering grades six through eight. It runs Monday through Friday, July 20 to 31. To find out more, call Sue Maylor, 459-2758.
Other summer programs introduce students to careers they might not have considered.
Construction Camp for seventh and eighth graders runs July 6 to July 17. Enrollees learn safety and a bit of heavy equipment operation, visit job sites, build a special project, and explore all aspects of the construction trades.
That’s not all. The Arts and Technology Camp, held June 22 through 26, introduces students entering grades six through eight to a sampling of digital arts, forestry and natural resources, autobody refinishing, carpentry and woodworking, human services and storytelling, international foods, music, cosmetology, video communications, welding and metal craft, and health careers.
Finally, a series of week-long theme camps add another dimension to sixth-through-tenth grade students’ range of summer activities. Campers may develop music and recording talents, tour the world of international cuisine, create and manipulate digital images, create robots and wearables, experiment with broadcasting media, and devise hair and nail styles.
For information on the Construction, Arts and Technology, and theme camps, contact John Bixby at (802) 770-1050 or email him at kbixby@rutlandhs.k12.vt.us.
