Back to normal: Students have chance to participate in summer camp offerings this summer. – Amarillo.com
As the 2021 summer kicks off, multiple entities are beginning their respective summer camp activities, giving students and other community members the chance to participate in activities throughout the season.
This comes after many summer camps and other related activities were affected in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Amarillo Globe-News spoke with officials from a few entities hosting activities this summer and about their approach this year.
Amarillo College Kids’ College
Coming out of the pandemic, it means a lot to Linda Dominguez, the organizer of Kids’ College at Amarillo College, to have students returning to the program.
“We are so excited. It just makes me so happy to see these kids,” she said.
This comes after the program was not hosted in 2020 because of the pandemic. Dominguez said last year’s approach was “Plan D,” giving thousands of students who participated in the free lunch program activity bags filled with materials.
For this year’s activities, however, Dominguez said that Kids’ College is as normal as they can be, with the numbers of each class being reduced to be more COVID-19-safe and friendly. The program is featuring numerous opportunities for elementary and middle school students throughout the summer.
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For the middle school level, this includes interacting with Amarillo industry leaders, including representatives from Bell Helicopter, Pantex and numerous Amarillo first responder organizations, to lead the camps.
“These companies are considering this recruitment for their future workforce. This is how important they see this … It’s very critical because it starts when they are (younger),” she said. “From that time on, they are kind of directed to a particular field of study. In middle school, they choose what direction they are going to go. So we like to really reach out to these middle school kids and show them the opportunities and what the future holds (for them).”
For more information about the Kids’ College program through Amarillo College, visit https://www.actx.edu/kidscollege/.
Don Harrington Discovery Center Camps
After starting in the role of executive director for the Don Harrington Discovery Center back in September, Wendy Taylor has not seen the museum in a “normal” setting, with the pandemic continuing to wane in the community.
However, with the summer camps scheduled throughout the season, Taylor said she is excited to see more and more students on the center’s ground.
With her being relatively new to the position, Taylor took the opportunity to redo the center’s approach for the camps, making themes the same each week, but each age range receiving age-level appropriate activities. The topics throughout the summer include dinosaurs, the science of superheroes and space camp.
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“For example, if there’s a family who has three kids coming to camp, they are all actually learning about the (same theme) this week,” she said. “They are just learning different topics so that really provides an experience where it gets to go home with the kids. They are able to engage and teach each other, teach their parents, about what they are learning.”
Taylor said the center is also partnering with the Amarillo Independent School District for its camps, giving the district’s students the opportunity to attend the camp for free at three of the district’s elementary campuses.
Having students in these camps throughout the summer helps to prevent academic regression, which occurs in some students when they are away from an educational setting, Taylor said.
“Kids, they work all year to be in school and to have their grades up and whatnot, and they enter the summer. Without any structured activities and particularly, some educational activities, they can tend to fall into … not using their brain in the same way,” she said. “Having the kids in summer camp is one way that parents can keep the brain working. What’s really fun about what we do is that it is all about play. It’s informal learning. It isn’t academic, necessarily, but it is educational.”
For more information about the Discovery Center’s offerings this summer, visit https://discoverycenteramarillo.org.
Lone Star Ballet Summer Intensive
Officials with the Lone Star Ballet are preparing to host three different summer intensives, centering around jazz, hip hop and ballet throughout the next few months.
According to officials from the ballet, the intensive gives dancers the opportunity to have a deep immersion into a particular dance style, giving experienced dancers the opportunity to further develop their technique.
The ballet’s intensives are the following:
– June 21-25: Jazz intensive with Robyn Rubin
– July 26-30: Hip Hop intensive with Kaffy Francis
– Aug. 16-20: Ballet intensive with Courtney Stohlton
The ballet will also be hosting various summer classes at the Amarillo campus, as well as its regional campuses in Borger, Dalhart, Dumas, Hereford, Panhandle and Plainview starting June 14. All participants in those classes, as well as the participants in the summer intensive, will be invited to participate in a performance the evening of July 31 at Sam Houston Park.
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King Hill, the spokesperson for the Lone Star Ballet, told the Amarillo Globe-News that after 2020 saw the COVID-19 pandemic, he believes this is a great opportunity for students to get back into the art form.
“This provides a wonderful rejuvenation, rededication to the art form, as well as opportunities. Like any discipline, be it music, be it art, be it acting, any of the performing arts, it requires a tremendous amount of training, as well as discipline,” he said. “A lot of the training opportunities had to be curtailed … because of COVID. Now, we are ready to go wide open again and give students of all ages the opportunities to have a good, fun summer activity to explore dance.”
For those interested, individuals can call (806) 372-2463, message Lone Star Ballet on its Facebook page or visit their website https://lonestarballet.org.
Amarillo Opera Camp
The Amarillo Opera will also be hosting an arts-centered camp for students from second to fifth grade in July, giving participants the chance to create their own opera production.
Officials with the opera stated that during the camp, which lasts July 12-23, students will put on the “Of Mice and Mozart” production, being exposed to operatic music as well as costumes and crafts in the process.
“That entails about a 30-minute program with Mozart music sung by children in second to fifth grade,” Mary Jane Johnson, the opera’s general and artistic director, told the Globe-News. “They will be making their costumes, learning the music, doing everything they need to do to prepare a very small children’s opera.”
For more information about the opera and this upcoming camp, visit https://www.amarilloopera.org.
Other Amarillo Camps this summer:
Snapology at First Nazarene Church, located at 5201 S. Soncy Road; https://embed.snapology.com/licensee/92/events/location.
Wesley Summer Camp, located at the Wesley Community Center at 1615 S. Roberts; http://www.wesleyamarillo.org/site/programs-1/children-programs/summer-camp.
Maverick Boys and Girls Clubs of Amarillo Summer Camp, located at 1923 S. Lincoln; https://maverickclub.org.
Amarillo Little Theatre Academy Classes, located at 2019 Civic Circle; https://amarillolittletheatre.org/academy/.
If your camp wants to be included in this list, contact David Gay by phone at (806) 345-3447 or by email at dgay@amarillo.com.