Jan. 25, 2023—Black Hills Tire, owned and operated by Weston and Tenise Chapman, announced the launch of a new automotive-focused summer camp aimed at helping adolescents ages 12-15 discover the industry. Camp Drive, a two-day camp that runs from June 9-10, 2023, in Rapid City, S.D., will feature hands-on experiences and lectures where to teach campers the ins and outs of tires, brakes and alignments, with the ultimate goal of participating in a repair.
"We were inspired to create this camp because our industry is a career to be proud of. It’s constantly changing, and as long as you are a technician that likes to learn, you can always grow and be vital to the automotive field. We feel passionate about that and do whatever we can to promote that," said Tenise Chapman.
The camp will also feature guest speakers from the auto care industry and will hold pit crew challenges, where the campers will collaborate in a NASCAR-type rotation.
"Our goal for the camp is to introduce the automotive industry to young women and men. We hope to create a passion in them about our industry to help grow future technicians," added Chapman.
The Chapmans hope to create a camp for older teens in the future and hope to get their local technical college involved.
"We also hope to create a camp for older kids, ages 16-18, that will be a little more in-depth and discuss how to make this industry a career," said Tenise Chapman.
Registration for Camp Drive opens April 1, 2023, and is limited to 25 attendees
