Happy campers: summer days at Boys and Girls Clubs
By Edwin Reyes | Sun Student Reporter
Whether they are hard at work with art, cooking, science or sports, local kids will find that there is no better vacation than all the fun activities available at the 68 summer camps at the Boys and Girls Clubs. The Director of School Programs and Education Klara Crean depicts the summer camps as “favorite hands on activities that kids get to do for an entire week and summer and not just an hour during the school year.”
The day camps feature unique themes for every week that focus on different topics. Themes include “Under the Sea,” “Spy Kids,” and “Splashapalooza!” for elementary aged campers; for the middle school day camps, themes include “The Amazing Race,” “Party in the USA,” and “Summer Fiesta.” Campers that join summer activities later in the afternoon after day camp time frame are able to engage in “Open Club,” which have the same themes and activities of the day camps.
Summer camps also involve field trips. During the first week of Rock Climbing Camp, the campers took a field trip to Vortex, a climbing center in Santa Rosa. Middle school members went to Scandia Family Fun Center in Rohnert Park to end the week of “The Amazing Race.” Other trips will include the beach, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and Morton’s Pool in Glen Ellen.
Eric Gonzales, the middle school director, commented that “it [was] only the first week of summer and there was already so much to do” for both staff and camp members.
In the first session of summer activities, day campers from grades first through fifth were in “Camp Half-Blood,” based on the Percy Jackson series. They were involved in a boot camp that prepared their skills for the exciting Olympic Day where they were tested in multiple events such as the long jump, javelin toss, and a rock climbing course. They were challenged to complete all nine courses to set the best record to win a golden trophy.
During the third session of Technology and Engineering Camp, the focus was “Lego Robotics.” Headed by staff member Jamie Hagood in the Intel Computer Clubhouse, campers sat around a table, picking their parts to build their Lego robot that would be used to race. This week’s robots involved special sensors that can detect different colors. After Hagood guided the campers with the programming of the robots, they taped a colored piece of paper on the floor and timed how long it took their robot to touch the colored paper.
Hagood explained that each day is a new challenge, and is looking forward to seeing robots for a drag race and an off-road race in the coming days. Lily Hamilton, a rising eighth grader, said it was “hard to find the right parts and programming to make the robot find yellow, but it was fun to finally see it work.”
Members of the new Maker Camp during the week of July 27 worked on puppetry after learning about fashion and creating their own Project Runway. Though a small group, five campers were hard at work making their puppets from popsicle sticks, google eyes, felt, glue, and string. Before they could make their puppets, staff member Natalie Wallace encouraged them to make concept sketches of the puppets they wanted to bring to life; they later learned how to sew the felt to create them.
Wallace enjoyed the creativity each member had, where “some just liked playing with the google eyes, and others liked to sew.” Wallace and the members are hopeful they can make enough puppets to put on a show for others. Third graders Walter Hofstetter and Lilly Streb created a “hypnotism puppet” and an alien puppet named “Swinky.” The members used the mirrors in the room to practice their puppet acting for the big show. Responding to these names and their acting assured Wallace this camp is “to be as active as they want once the characters are made.
Even though summer activities are well underway at the Boys and Girls Clubs, the fun has only just begun for many local youth.
