Author: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Monday, July 14, 2008

Whether it’s learning how to create a podcast or learning how to open a new locker, Fayette County middle schoolers are soaking it in like ultraviolet rays at Myrtle Beach.

At Tates Creek Middle School, students can work on art projects and write reflections with no pressure. “They enjoy being with the teachers outside the classroom setting,” said Becky Simpson, director of the Environmental Art and Science Camp.

“They’re able to succeed when they don’t always do that in school,” she added.

This is the third summer for the Tates Creek camp, which runs June 9-27. This year’s focus is environmental stewardship, with such activities as landscaping, gardening and journaling. There’s also time for science board games on rainy days and the ever-popular Friday field trips, including a trek to the wildlife preserve in Frankfort.

Simpson, a special education teacher for 32 years, has a handful of camp helpers, including former Tates Creek students.

“(The kids) gain so much from the college young men,” she said of the rising sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders, who also study character development. “They’re such a good influence on the kids.”

Another side benefit is that the camp helps prepare students new to Tates Creek Middle for August.

“Especially with incoming sixth-graders, it really helps them not be frightened of middle school,” Simpson said. “It just gives them a sense of ‘I belong here.’”

Camp “PEACE” is all about upcoming sixth-graders finding their classrooms, those new lockers and some peace of mind at Jessie Clark Middle School.

The July 31 camp, which is an acronym for “Peers Equally Achieving Character Education,” is a school-day orientation that covers everything from the morning announcements to sports sign-ups to note-taking strategies.

“We look at the very small things, which are what the kids are worried about. It really dispels a lot of fears and anxieties,” said Youth Service Center coordinator Gabriel Brown, who leads the camp.

The kids will locate the restrooms, tour the library and familiarize themselves with school rules, core class hours and optional subjects.

“We also go through the dress code, and they get a fashion show” from eighth-graders, Brown said. “Basically we’ve got seven things we hit on in seven class periods.”

In addition, there’s an evening component for parents, who learn about such essentials as tardy and attendance policies, which differ from elementary to middle school.

“We want the parents to know what’s expected,” said Brown, who has lined up about 16 teachers to staff the one-day camp, which generally attracts 200 or more kids.

At Winburn Middle School, roughly two dozen students will be test pilots powering the new Literacy/Technology Camp. The program, set for June 16-27, will teach language arts and technology in tandem.

“Each student will have an iPod and a book they will access on the iPod,” said teacher Jackie Haynes, who will plow the familiar ground of story elements and character analysis. With audio books, their comprehension will be higher, she said, adding, “Students will create podcasts of themselves giving book talks and discussing the novels that they read.”

Incoming seventh-graders who scored at “apprentice” level in reading tests were invited to the camp; participants who continue the track in TNT (Tuesday and Thursday Academy) will be allowed to keep their iPods at the end of the school year.

“The idea is to get students excited about reading and have them be more successful with reading,” Haynes said.