CANTON — The final day of the Liberty Partnerships Program's Summer Aeronautical Camp was a blast.

SUNY Canton's assistant professor Lucas Craig gave a countdown and then four middle-school students fired model rockets high into the sky July 1, on the field bordering the college's entryway. As soon as they were done, four more excited students from St. Lawrence County raced to prepare their devices for flight.

The rocket launch followed a week's worth of aerospace experimentation. Students flew kites, built model airplanes and practiced flying with a remote control flight simulator. They even built operational hovercraft that they buzzed up and down Nevaldine Hall.

"The purpose of this camp is to get students interested in engineering and help them understand the importance and values of engineering technology in the real world," Craig said.

Aeronautical Camp is a little different from the college's other summer science camps like Camp Invention. The Liberty Partnerships Program exclusively selects participants for Aeronautical Camp from in an effort to help them transition between middle and high school. "The end goal is to ensure these students are fully prepared for college and competitive workplace demands," Grant said.

Craig sees it as an opportunity to showcase the resources available through the college's Canino School of Engineering Technology. "I hope we can recruit some of these students into the engineering disciplines at SUNY Canton," he said.