Genesee Valley Parent Camp & Summer Activity Guide : Page 5
Creative Options But summer camps have changed drastically over the last 20 years. While traditional summer camps – those with an emphasis on introducing campers to a wide array of activities such as arts and crafts, swimming, and music – still exist, today's summer camp options feature a bevy of inter-est-based activities for parents seeking something different for their children. Growing up, Kara Travers enthusiastically looked forward to spending her summers at the YMCA's Camp Arrowhead, a traditional sum-mer camp that utilizes 55 acres of land in Pittsford. Travers has fond memories of her summer camp expe-rience – which included a ropes course, swimming, archery, and performing theatrical skits – so much so that Travers wound up becoming a camp counselor at Arrowhead. Fast-forward 20 years and Travers still spends her summers at Arrowhead, only this time as the YMCA's Center Director for the camp, which Travers says attracts as many as 500 school-aged chil-dren for a weekly session. "Summer camps are a completely different market than 25 years ago," says Travers. "The label of summer camp has become much more specialized, from Harry Potter camps to computer or sci-ence camps. Those are specialized summer camp offerings that cater to children's interests and abilities, and they can help further their school-year educations. There's a place for all of those specialized camps, in addition to the traditional summer camp experience." At Arrowhead, campers are divided by grade into small Children have to want to go to the summer camp, they can't just be shipped off to any old camp, and once they're at camp, there have to be fun, stimulating activities that captivate their attention spans while helping them learn and grow." “ PHOTO COURTESY OF GENERATIONS CHILD CARE As Travers pointed out, specialty camps are on the rise, and Nazareth College's Infotonics Summer Camp is a great example of summer camps branching out to offer diverse, skill-driven ses-sions that go beyond boondoggle and campfires. For the last 11 years, this theme camp has piqued children's curiosity about science while providing a fun, engaging atmosphere to learn, says Bill Lammela, the chair of Nazareth's department of chem-istry and biochemistry who also directs the four-week science camp that runs during the month of July. This summer, camp partici-— Denise Bellavia, Owner/Director of the family owned and operated Creative Themes Day Camp in Perinton pants can learn about the "World of Energy," take a "Mission to Mars," participate in their own criminal investigation during "CSI-Case of Calculating Copycat," and delve into the groups and experience a smattering of activities, from playing sports in the morning to arts and crafts time. After lunch, campers can go for a swim, test out their archery skills, perform a skit and participate in theme-based group activities before going home for the day. When campers return the next day, Travers says the counselors mix up the agenda to offer different activities. There are also specialty skills camps such as archery, golf, kayaking, mountain biking, rock climbing/ropes course and sailing. "Magic of Harry Potter." The sessions are designed for fourth-graders through freshmen in high school. "Our goals are two-fold: to have our students have fun doing science activities while teaching them about science," Lammela, says of the camp, which has been housed at Nazareth for six sum-mers. "We hide the learning piece by having our students work on a different topic each day.We teach them specific scientific terms and conduct assessments afterwards to make sure the kids are learning and having fun in this hands-on environment. That's really important, to make it hands-on and inquiry-based instead of just lecturing to the kids." CONTINUED >>> Rochester Area & Genesee Valley Parent • Camp 2012 5
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