Youngsters Have Fun with Reading and Computers at ODU Summer Camp
As the Old Dominion University summer camps wrap up for 2011, several of the children who participated in the Lambert's Point Summer Programs have a durable, online record of their summer's adventure.
Led by ODU doctoral education students Julie Finn Byers and Christine Hebert, the campers, ages 9-13, produced a "wiki," documenting their adventures in the reading technology summer camp, hiking through genres including mythology, legends, fairy tales and fantasy. The wiki can be seen at http://lambertspoint.wikispaces.com/.
The youngsters were exposed to great literature, storytelling, technology and field trips to locales such as Chippokes Plantation as they explored the various genres.
"This camp focused on an active, inquiry-filled approach to reading, writing and technology," Byers said, adding that themes young campers could easily connect to were readily available in their projects, which included selected readings, a play and interactive activities.
Cecelia Tucker, ODU's assistant to the president for community relations, said the Lambert's Point Summer Programs have grown to be an important bonding tradition for area residents, and a valuable outreach vehicle for the university.
"You have young people who've grown up with this camp. They've come every year for several years and look forward to it tremendously," Tucker said. "We're proud of the way Old Dominion University has worked hand-in-hand with the Lambert's Point community, helping empower young people with positive messages like literacy and stopping bullying."
Tucker said the reading portion of the program was also a success "Julie Byers and Dr. Christine Hebert did an outstanding job in finding meaningful books to read, field trips and opportunities for creative writing.
"The basketball and football camps are always popular, and the Funtastic Fun Camp at the Lamberts Point Community Center provided fun, field trips and a safe place for 75 kids."
The free programs, offered for the past 20 years to children from the nearby Lambert's Point and Park Place neighborhoods, as well as to dependents of ODU employees, also featured boys' and girls' basketball camps, a football camp and a Funtastic Summer Camp. In all, more than 120 children took part in the various activities.
The ODU athletic department sponsored summer camps for baseball, basketball, cheerleading, field hockey, football, lacrosse, sailing, soccer, swimming and wrestling.
The Batten College of Engineering and Technology offered an Engineering and Science Preparatory nonresidential program for rising 11th- and 12th-graders who show interest and promise in math, science and engineering. And the College of Sciences again offered its popular Sea Camps for ages 6-8, 9-12 and 13-17.
ODU's Programs for Continued Learning offered a sea kayak day camp for ages 13 and up, plus a Grandparents Atlantic Ocean Camp, where grandparents could join their grandchildren in a program that includes ocean exploration and trips to a world-class aquarium and the Virginia Marine Science Museum.