Recently, Austin Tesla Club and Elon Musk himself informed the public that Tesla has the intention to hire high school graduates straight into the business with just their diplomas and no mentioned additional experience. Camp Oak Hallows has called on — and is again imploring — Tesla and Musk to invest in that high school education that their prospective employees must have. Against the risk of their appearing as a predatory leech on Texas and its schools, we challenge the megacorp to put their money where their mouths are, and establish a school-to-career pipeline by funding a STEM Academy within Camp Oak Hallows to teach and prepare the rising generation of engineers and innovators about the problems our world faces, and inspire them to tackle these issues head-on with solutions that perhaps not even Tesla’s Technoking has yet considered. But maybe, Elon’s afraid of training his own replacement? Call it a triple-dog dare, then.
This video, from COH Founder Virginia Gaffney’s personal TikTok account @vl_gaffney, explains that Camp Oak Hallows has had the intention to establish “Pathway”-like Academies for some time, and sees partnerships with the private sector as a great way to further our collective goals to improve the future in every way we can, especially sustainably. After the recent “Big Texas Freeze” that has killed at least 57 people, caused by shutdown energy on Texas’s independent power grid, the green — and weatherized — energy industry is in desperate need of new blood with the skills and passion to build a state, nation, and world free from the fears that many affected by the freeze will now have forever: that at any moment, their plug could be pulled, and they could face hypothermia (and worse) in their own homes. (And that doesn’t even begin to touch on the effects that inaffordability and inaccessibility had on the unhoused population during said winter storm.)
https://twitter.com/campoakhallows/status/1378174269084069889?s=20
Camp Oak Hallows has been dedicated to identifying and solving problems faced by Texas’s and America’s youth and young people since its inception, and now, the Fortune 500s and Blue Check Societies have a chance to get in on the action without too much work on their own part. Prospective sponsors should contact headmasters@campoakhallows.com
Currently in planning are four distinct Academies (STEAM, LAH, Athletics, and Social Justice and Civics) built-in to the 2027 Goals for COH.
At a pricetag of an estimated $25,000,000 for complete construction from groundbreak to full functionality, Camp Oak Hallows expects to open their gates to the first in-person class in 2024. This year (2021), COH must fundraise at least $1,000,000 and has begun projects to meet that goal, including the coming launch of OAKS, a new young adult fantasy novel written by Founder VL Gaffney, inspired by JK Rowling’s “wizarding world.” The story takes place in a fictionalized version of Camp where magic is real, and hechicero (sorcerers) live and learn alongside their no-mágico (non-magical) classmates. The detail of an “integrated” campus is distinct from the “inspiration” school of Hogwarts, where “Squibs” (non-magical children of wizards) are not allowed to attend school with their magical peers. Fans of the original series will find many differences in Oaks, where Rowling’s apparent xenophobia and willingness to positively depict a caste system in wizard society is not perpetuated. The author sees the segregation and suppression of Squibs as comparable to the treatment of disabled and minority students, and refuses to show even her fictional Camp setting as upholding those ideals.
Those interested in supporting Camp Oak Hallows sooner than 2027 need look no further than Kickstarter, where Oaks will be launching on May 1, 2021. For just $10, Backers of the project can obtain their own autographed copy of the first, unedited, 50 pages of manuscript of the book (in July), well before the full release of the complete novel (expected in December).
Other “Backing” options include $5 to name and build a character for the book, and $20 to be among the first to receive a complete First Edition release of the book by the end of the year.
All funds go directly to Camp Oak Hallows, and the project aims to raise at least $250,000, a mere quarter of the necessary fundraising for the year to meet scheduled goals.
Camp Oak Hallows 