Camp Logistics will expose students to industry

The University of North Georgia (UNG) will host Camp Logistics from June 20-23 on its Gainesville Campus to expose Hall County high school students to the logistics and supply chain management industry.

Rising freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors in the Hall County School District can apply on the Camp Logistics webpage. There is no cost for participants.

The camp, which is sponsored by Gainesville-based Syfan Logistics, will be held from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each day, with classroom instruction and guest speakers in the morning and afternoon field trips to the Georgia Mountain Food Bank, Kubota, and Syfan Logistics.

Dr. Mohan Menon, department head of management and marketing, is excited the Mike Cottrell College of Business is able to offer this learning environment.

"Supply chain issues have been in our consciousness ever since the pandemic started," Menon said. "Hall County is the seat of Georgia logistics with close to 80 companies. We need to expose high school students to the opportunities available in their backyard."

The goal for the camp's first year is to have between 20 and 30 students.

This academic camp will also shed light on the Northeast Georgia Inland Port planned for Hall County. The 104-acre inland port will provide a direct link to the Port of Savannah via Norfolk Southern. The rail terminal will open with 9,000 feet of working track, expanding to 18,000 feet at full build-out. With a top capacity of 150,000 container lifts per year, the facility will offset 600 roundtrip highway miles for every container moved by rail.

"Through both classroom learning and field trips, students will be able to experience what the logics industry is like in the real world," Menon said.

Syfan Logistics and asset-based Syfan Transport provide a diverse array of shipping services across the United States, Mexico and Canada.

Dr. Lu Xu, assistant professor of business statistics and quantitative methods, and Dr. Zuoming Liu, assistant professor of management, will join Menon as the UNG faculty members teaching at Camp Logistics.

"The camp will help high school students explore their views of different logistics disciplines and applications," Xu said. "It will connect students with UNG, industries, and academic associations, and it will prepare students for their potential future careers in logistics."