Mid Rivers Newsmagazine 4-5-17

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18 I SUMMER CAMPS & OPPORTUNITIES I Camps: LEGO® Mindstorms® Robotics Minecraft TM • Super Heroes Galaxy Far Away (Star Wars) Bat League: Heroes and Villains Teenage Brick Turtles Jr Robotics (may include Remote Control) Trip to the Zoo – Duplos® pre-K to 9 Extraordinary atmosphere for students to build unique creations, play games, and have loads of fun using Bricks 4 Kidz Model Kits Visit bricks4kidz.com/chesterfield for West County & St. Charles County locations 314-287-5876 Summer Camps • Birthday Parties START PLANNING YOUR SON’S SUMMER TODAY! Get more information at www.desmet.org/ spartansummer, or call the Spartan Summer Camp office at 314-567-3500, or email Nancy at nsokolik@desmet.org. The Tidwell Tennis Academy Join Tennis Professional Craig Tidwell for an eight-class tennis session at Francis Howell Central High School. • Classes Begin June 8th • Weekday and Weekend Classes offered. • Junior and Adult Classes offered - including a Cardio-Tennis Class. • Excellent student to teacher ratio. • Classes geared towards beginner and intermediate level players. Go to: www.tidwelltennis.com for more information Summer Camp for Boys at De Smet Jesuit Spartan Summer is a brand new summer camp program at centrally-located De Smet Jesuit. It’s a great way for middle school boys to learn, make new friends, and play a variety of sports where the emphasis is more on fun, less on competition. • 11 Academic Camps, including Arts and Sciences • 16 Sports Camps • Mix and match to make it a full day with lunch included • All camps are led by De Smet Jesuit faculty TENNIS CLASSES April 5, 2017 MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE By GLENNA ALLEN In today’s world where the only constant is change, summer camps everywhere are revising curricula and activities to embrace new values, new technology and new experiences. Designed to address the needs of campers in a multi-generational, multi-cultural and greater risk-taking society, camp leaders are finding ways to fully engage imaginations and creative processes and turn them into opportunities for learning. Here are some exciting activities and programs appearing in resident camps and day camps this summer. Sustainability The desire to leave a smaller environmental footprint has reached the camping industry. More and more camps are finding ways to teach campers about recycling, conservation and sustainable living. Some camps have even eliminated the use of paper plates and plastic utensils. For years, the Girl Scout and Boy Scout organizations have encouraged campers not to disturb anything in its natural state, whether a bird’s nest that appears empty, a beehive that’s dormant or wildflowers growing in the fields, and this concern for the environment has expanded beyond the outdoor camp experience. All types of camps encourage recycling and some even have their own gardens, cared for by the campers, the produce is used in culinary programs as well as in meal preparation at camp. Community service projects Camps all across the country are organizing community service projects that give campers an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of others. Campers participate in endurance feats to raise money for charities, volunteer to help senior citizens, donate their time to paint and refurbish buildings within a camp’s town and volunteer at local homeless shelters, all designed to promote concern for the less fortunate. Often kids who get a taste for community service while at camp want to continue volunteering when they return home – and that is a plus for everyone involved. @MIDRIVERSNEWS MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE.COM Summer camps keep pace with change Adventurous fun Day and resident camps have always kept their eye on new activities in which children are interested. Some of the latest activities introduced at camps include skateboard parks, go-karts, golf facilities, circus programs and aquatic facilities. Most camps retain a balance between traditional favorites and the more adventurous and experimental initiatives in order to provide a variety of challenges for children with a wide range of interests, while still delivering the core programming for which summer camp is known. Visit days Taking their cue from elementary schools that offer meet-the-teacher days and colleges that host high school juniors and seniors for visits, many camps are inviting new campers to spend a day or an overnight at camp before committing to attend for an extended period of time. These visits allow campers and parents to get a sense of the camp program prior to deciding to register. It helps to build confidence for future campers and they get excited about the idea of going to overnight camp, spending time on their own away from their parents and sampling camp life for a short period of time. Nutritious snacks and meals With all of the focus on childhood obesity and nutrition, the trend toward offering healthy food options has taken hold at many camps. Resident camps incorporate healthier food items and day camps encourage healthy snack options such as fruit, raw vegetables and plenty of water. The healthy food choices can be found throughout the dining areas, including salad bars with grilled chicken, tuna, eggs and fresh vegetables, baskets of fruit and other wholesome selections. Parents can visit a camp’s website or call the camp director for further information about the camp’s menus. 233 NORTH NEW BALLAS ST. LOUIS, MO 63141
FACEBOOK.COM/MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE MIDRIVERSNEWSMAGAZINE.COM A peek inside summer camps Kids have been attending summer camp since 1861 and many of the traditions have stood the test of time, but keeping current with new programming and practices means summer camp will continue to appeal to generations of young people. The following data from the American Camp Association [ACA] reflects current trends at ACA-accredited camps, which number more than 3,000 nationwide: April 5, 2017 MID RIVERS NEWSMAGAZINE I SUMMER CAMPS & OPPORTUNITIES I 19 • More than four in 10 camps offer family sessions. • Almost half [47 percent] of camps offer specialized programs for individuals with disabilities. • Nearly half [47 percent] of camps are primarily overnight camps, 35 percent are primarily day camps, and 26 percent offer both day and overnight camp programs. • More than 80 percent of camps offer coed programs, 20 percent offer femaleonly programs and 13 percent offer maleonly programs. • Females comprise nearly 60 percent of total camp enrollment, according to the ACA National Outcomes Study. • Camps offer a variety of programming, including recreational swimming [84 percent], camping skills [57 percent], climbing/rappelling [39 percent], horseback riding [30 percent], teambuilding [69 percent], community service [36 percent], farming/ranching/gardening [26 percent], and wilderness trips [19 percent]. • The top five camp activities are recreational swimming, arts/crafts, challenge/ ropes, archery and aquatic activities, according to a 2014 ACA report. • In the past two years, camps have added programs such as adventure camps/ programs [22 percent], family camps/programs [15 percent], nature/environmental education programs [12 percent], and gardening programs [19 percent], according to a 2014 ACA survey. Also new are programs in college planning; health, wellness and fitness; service learning/community service; and cooking with food from the camp’s garden. • More than half of ACA-accredited camps offer ropes course activities or have other constructed adventure/challenge facilities. • Nearly half of camps have community service or good deed programs, such as community clean-ups, food drives, recycling programs, and volunteering with senior citizens and hospital patients. • One in five residential camps in 2014 reported relationships with schools or school curricula. New partnerships with school systems are emerging as a way to help children retain learning over the summer. • Technology remains absent from most ACA summer camps, with 74 percent of camps not allowing campers to use personal electronic devices at any time. For camper-parent communication, 84 percent of camps use handwritten correspondence in the form of letters or postcards. • Enrollment at 82 percent of ACA camps has stayed the same or increased within the past five years; 50 percent of camps were 90-99 percent full. Rec-Plex Activities Art Experience Camps Hockey • Flag Football • Basketball Volleyball • Fencing • Figure Skating Pickleball • Theater • Baseball • Dance NEW: Cheer • NEW: Futsal-Soccer Register in Person at the St. Peters Rec-Plex! MRN-03.29.17-Camp.indd 1 www.stpetersmo.net/camps • 636-939-2386 3/28/17 8:41 AM SUMMER CAMPS & OPPORTUNITIES COMING AGAIN 5.3.17 TO ADVERTISE: 636 591.0010
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Mid Rivers Newsmagazine 4-5-17

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