AT&T is hiring about 135 employees in the Kansas City area, including about 35 in Kansas City, Kan.
The jobs open include U-verse premises technicians and retail sales consultants. Also, there are Lee’s Summit call center jobs available. About 70 premises technicians are needed, more than 50 retail sales consultants, and 15 call center representatives.
The job openings, besides in Kansas City, Kan., also include Belton, Blue Springs, Independence, Kansas City, Mo., Leavenworth, Olathe, Overland Park and Shawnee.
Interested applicants may go to http://connect.att.jobs/ to search for more details about jobs in specific communities and to apply.
by Kelly Rogge
Registration is being accepted for the week-long summer camp at Kansas City Kansas Community College.
Camp Invention is designed as a way for elementary school students to explore, tinker with ideas and be creative.
There are two sessions this summer. The first is July 14 to 18 at the KCKCC Main Campus, 7250 State Ave. The second is July 21 to 25 at the KCKCC-Leavenworth campus. Each session is from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and tuition is $199. Discounts are available. Campers need to bring a sack lunch each day.
“Camp Invention is an amazing weeklong summer adventure where students entering grades one through six will brainstorm, tinker, create and invent without limits,” said Kylie Williamson, coordinator of community education for KCKCC. “Camp Invention allows kids to use their imagination while learning scientific principles.”
KCKCC has served as host of Camp Invention, a national program, since 2008. Students who participate will use real tools, circuits and materials from the Inventor Supply Room to build their own original prototypes. They work in teams to rotate among different modules, allowing them to build upon what they learned the previous day.
All activities are centered on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) concepts. It is the only nationally- accredited summer enrichment day experience for elementary-aged children and is led by local certified educators. The program was first started in 1990 and since has served more than 1,200 sites in 49 states.
“They will create a personalized motor-powered vehicle and take apart electronics to construct an insect-themed pinball machine,” Williamson said. “I hope children learn new concepts and are inspired by inventors whose inventions have changed the world, all while having a blast building and creating things.”
For more information or to register, call 913-288-7660. Registration can also be completed by going to the KCKCC website, www.kckcc.edu and selecting “Continuing Education.” Select “Continuing Education Schedule” and Personal Growth under Youth Programs.
Information about Camp Invention can be found at campinvention.org.
Kansas State University’s newest Gilman scholar is using a first-time opportunity to further her plans to one day teach English in Japan.
Khiana Harris, senior in anthropology and psychology, Kansas City, Kan., is spending eight weeks at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Beppu, Japan, as a recipient of summer 2014 scholarship from the Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship Program.
Congressionally funded and established by the International Academic Opportunity Act of 2000, the scholarship, which provides up to $5,000, lets U.S. undergraduate students at a two-year or four-year college or university participate in study abroad programs worldwide.
“I chose this Japanese program in particular because it was one of the more language-intensive ones. It also had the longest duration,” Harris said. “My primary goal is to learn Japanese and become acquainted with everyday life here, because after I graduate from K-State, I will teach English here or go on to graduate school for anthropology in East Asia studies.”
With her double majors, Harris didn’t have time to take classes in Japanese, so she studied the language on her own for a year before arriving in Japan.
“The Gilman Scholarship has not only allowed me to be here in the first place, but also to be here and devote my full attention to my studies and connecting with other people,” she said.
It’s Harris’ first time studying abroad and her first time away from home for such an extended period, but she says the opportunity is not one to be missed.
“It is eye-opening. I know that everyone says that, but there is so much people can take for granted if they never go somewhere else where the norms and expectations are completely different,” Harris said. “I have learned so much in my short four weeks here already — not just about the language, but about Japanese culture in general.”
Harris will return to Kansas State University in the fall. She is a member of the university’s Anime and Manga Society and a library help student specialist at Hale Library. She also has served as a psychology research assistant and physical anthropology teaching assistant, experiences she hopes will help land her a teaching job with the Japanese Exchange & Teaching Program, or JET Program, when she graduates in May 2015.
Even though it is her first time studying abroad, Harris already has advice for students contemplating the experience: Never take the weather for granted — especially in a country like Japan with a rainy season.
“Always check and prepare for the type of weather that you are getting yourself into,” she said. “There’s nothing worse than going somewhere rainy and forgetting your umbrella.”
A graduate of Sumner Academy of Arts and Science in Kansas City, Kan., Harris is the daughter of Janie Harris, Kansas City, Kan., and Darren Harris, Kansas City, Mo.
Beth Bohn is with K-State News and Editorial Services.
