- May 2, 2024
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Last Friday, 15-year-old Chauncey McCray learned CPR. The Friday before that, he listened to a presentation against drugs and drunk driving, and then he received his first paycheck from his first job, working part-time at Data Busters’ front office, in the Coastal Center on State Road 100.
According to Family and Community Services Manager Phil Craine, McCray’s story is similar to most 14- to 17-year-olds in the North East Florida Community Action Agency’s Data Busters program.
“It’s meant to help them with their employable skills,” Craine said of the camp, which is free every summer to 20 low-income students who have been recommended by two or more of their teachers for participation.
Craine explained that the program has been around locally for almost 30 years, and “it’s changed a lot along the way.” The program, which runs for six weeks throughout the summer, offers part-time jobs to each camper, which they work at two days of the week. Another two days of each week are spent in the classroom, learning computer skills. And every Friday is about professional development, when students learn things like CPR, at the county’s Emergency Operations Center, or banking, from Wells Fargo workers.
Student Services Director Katrina Townsend also visited earlier in the summer to help organize students’ schedules for their upcoming high school semesters.
Upon graduation of the program, each student will enter high school with a full credit, the start of a resume and a reference letter from their camp supervisor. The highest achiever will win a new computer, flat screen monitor and printer. The second highest will win a laptop.
But for students like McCray, although the paycheck and the prizes are nice, he came for the leg up in high school.
“I really came to get the credit,” he said, adding that his job money is already locked up in savings. “It wasn’t so much about the work. I came to get the credit.”
A Bunnell native, McCray says he likes Data Busters because it helps him stay out of trouble and keep doing his best. In the fall, he will enter Flagler Palm Coast High School, where he hopes to play football. And after that, he’s thinking of applying to the University of Florida.
“One of the things they do in the program is they spend a lot of time learning what’s involved in the various careers they’re interested in,” Craine said, adding that, although it’s a computer-focused camp, not all the students are interested in information technology work.
One camper, in fact, wants to be a dance choreographer.
Data Busters is scheduled to hold a graduation ceremony 2 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 2, at the Government Services Building.
