Field trips and more for logistics campers

Twenty Georgia high school students participated in Camp Logistics, a free, five-day camp that explores logistics and supply chain management and college options, encouraging high school students to consider education and employment in the field. The University of North Georgia (UNG) hosted the camp from June 24-28 at UNG's Dahlonega Campus, and Syfan Logistics was the sponsor.

Campers heard from experts in the field of logistics and went on field trips to local companies including Agile Cold Storage, Appalachian Regional Port, Kings Hawaiian, Kubota, Performance Food Group, and Syfan Logistics.

"These experiences are cementing their interest in the field. Seeing the students' eyes light up when they witness logistics operations firsthand has been incredibly rewarding," Varun Gupta, associate professor of Logistics and Analytics, said. "Our logistics advisory board members have gone above and beyond in sharing their experiences and engaging with the students. Their passion for the industry is clearly infectious."

Curiosity about the field was the camp's biggest draw with many students hoping to pursue internships and careers in the field.

Michael Mah from Pendergrass, Georgia, was pleasantly surprised when he received a prize while hearing from Vaughan Griffiths, of Porsche North America, speaking to the group at Syfan Logistics.  

"I got a Lamborghini Lego set from Porsche on Monday," the rising senior at Jackson County High School said. "That was pretty cool. I asked a good question."

Mah said he expected to spend most of the day in a classroom and then a quick tour of a site. He called the camp "more intuitive" and said it brought campers into the experience.

"I plan to study business and logistics, and my hope is to work with Syfan. I want to do summer internships with them and things like that," he said. "I always knew logistics was a big thing. It runs the whole U.S., but there's just a lot of little things that add up. It's a big industry."

North Hall High School senior Thomas Clifton had somewhat of an insight into logistics as his father is in the industry.

“It’s such a big industry. I didn't realize how much it did. I knew it did a lot," Clifton said. "It's one of those things where hearing someone and seeing it all happen opened my eyes even more. Everything is logistics."

Clifton said he hopes to become a business consultant.

"As a business consultant, you must dip your toes into everything in the business world, and I thought this would offer great insight," he said.

Manavi Chanana, from Cumming, Georgia, is a sophomore at Alliance Academy for Innovation in Forsyth County.

"I wanted to learn about the business side of logistics. It's been great. It's been helpful," she said. "It's a great camp and offered so many experiences that I would not have gotten if I had not attended."

Cumming, Georgia, resident Shreyas Jukkalkar is a junior from South Forsyth High School in Cumming.

"This has been an eye-opening experience for me. I was surprised to learn how complex our supply chain system is here in the U.S. Supply chain logistics is a big part of our country," he said. "There are many steps to it, and various software enhances the system. What surprised me the most is just how complex the entire system is."

Jukkalkar encourages anyone looking to learn more about supply chain logistics to participate in the future.

"This camp is a great learning opportunity and very informative," Jukkalkar said. "I'd like to thank Syfan Logistics for providing such an insightful learning experience for all of us. The experience has been great, and I was able to learn so many new things, that's for sure."