The Digital Media Institute at InterTech (DMII), a division of BRF, was awarded a community grant from the Best Buy® Foundation to support the school’s annual summer tech camps. The camps, aimed at developing STEM skills, have changed to an online format due to COVID-19.

Best Buy® is committed to helping teens from underserved communities become equipped for tech-reliant jobs of the future. Through their community grant program, Best Buy partners with institutions like DMII to provide hands-on learning opportunities for underserved teens across the country. DMII summer camp programming will focus on introducing teens to the fast-growing digital media industry with opportunities to develop and learn new skills.

DMII will offer two one-week-long camps for students between the ages of 10 and 18 years old. Character Design Camp will run June 22-26. It will focus on designing characters for video games, animation and comics. Online Modeling Camp will run from July 13-17. Campers will create a 3-D model which DMII staff will print and send to the student at the end of the camp. Both camps are from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. daily. The camps will only be available online, and students must have access to their own computer with internet connectivity to participate.

“Virtual camps are a new venture for our staff,” said DMII Executive Director John Miralles. “We are currently building our online summer camps from the ground up. But because of COVID-19 we feel that it’s important for parents, students and our team to feel safe while still holding these camps and giving our students a chance to learn and have fun.”

The cost for each student to attend is $25. There are still open spaces available.

For more information on the summer camps and tuition assistance, please visit www.dmi.edu/summer-camps. To learn more about DMII’s two accredited certificate programs, please visit www.dmi.edu or call 318.213.0788.