El Paso, TX (KFOX14) — Summer camp looks a little different when the take-home project begins as a piece of aerospace-grade aluminum.
When we visited the ESC19 & UTEP Aerospace Center/AstroFab Summer Camp, high school students were not standing back and watching a demonstration. They were learning CAD/CAM design, machining and CNC programming on industry-grade equipment. Then, they used those skills to create and finish a project they could take home.
Okay, this was fun. But the part that caught us was how quickly an abstract career became something students could physically hold.
One camp organizer described the moment students realized what the experience allowed them to do:
“I’m going to put my hands on the machine. I’m going to take home something that I can keep, that I physically worked with.”
That detail matters. Students were not simply hearing that aerospace engineering and advanced manufacturing are possible career paths. They were stepping into a machine-shop environment, working with metal and learning what it takes to turn a design into a finished object.
The segment identifies the camp as a partnership between Education Service Center Region 19 and the UTEP Aerospace Center, with funding through ESC19 GEAR UP. ESC19’s official announcement names the experience the ESC19 & UTEP Aerospace Center/AstroFab Summer Camp.
A Real Introduction to the Shop Floor
Undergraduate research assistant Kevin Christian McCafferty helped students become familiar with the equipment, prepare their material and understand how different machining operations work.
He also spoke honestly about his own experience learning in the facility.
“I’ve been learning a lot, learning different machines, different operations, different projects that I’ve been able to be a part of,” McCafferty said. “And it’s been really fun.”
Students were also able to make choices about how their pieces looked when finished, including polished or brushed treatments. That may sound like a small detail, but it gives them ownership of the process. They were not leaving with a worksheet describing what manufacturing looks like. They were leaving with something they had physically worked on.
The setting added another layer to the experience. UTEP’s AstroFab combines precision machining and fabrication with aerospace research and workforce development. The facility’s work includes CAD, computer-aided manufacturing, machining, welding, testing and metrology for aerospace and defense applications.
UTEP’s broader Advanced Manufacturing and Aerospace Center opened in April 2025 as an $80 million research and education facility. It houses the Aerospace Center and the W.M. Keck Center for 3D Innovation, bringing engineering education, research and industry collaboration together in one location.
For the students in this camp, that environment made the career feel less theoretical. They could see the machines, hear the equipment running and ask questions while the work was happening in front of them.
Trying the Work Before Choosing the Career
Camp leaders were direct about the need for these skills. As manufacturing activity grows, they expect employers to need technicians, programmers and people who understand the work happening on the production floor.
Still, nobody was asking a teenager to decide on a lifelong career in one summer. The camp gave students room to try something unfamiliar, see what was available and find out whether the work held their attention.
“We’re hoping it just sparks some excitement and interest,” one organizer said.
McCafferty connected that early exposure to a practical future.
“I think showing these high school students that this is a viable option to have a real career and make some money and support a family, I think that’s a fantastic thing,” he said.
What we liked most was the honesty of that point. Career exploration can sound very polished from a distance. Up close, it is a student learning how to prepare a piece of metal, asking what a machine does and deciding whether they want to keep learning.
There is value in that answer, even when it is not immediate.
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About Education Service Center Region 19
Address: 6611 Boeing Drive, El Paso, TX 79925
Phone: (915) 780-1919
General email: info@esc19.net
Future camp and school-district inquiries: gcamacho@esc19.net
Featured Partner and Camp Location: UTEP Aerospace Center / AstroFab
Location: Advanced Manufacturing and Aerospace Center Building
Address: 1800 Hawthorne St., El Paso, TX 79968
Phone: (915) 747-8252