by KIM HILSENBECK
Despite the triple digit heat, summer campers in the Boys and Girls Club Summer Enrichment Program at the organization’s Uhland Road location in San Marcos managed to have a good time at the park on the day the Hays Free Press visited.
Sixth through eighth grade students were playing basketball, hanging out on the playscape and sitting at tables under the pavilion.
Ana Brace, 13, Nicole Onwuka, 14 and Austin Vines, 14, stopped what they were doing to chat with us, then returned to playing a form of volleyball with their instructor, Jessica Rogers, an art instructor for the Boys and Girls Club school during the regular year. This is her second year of teaching the Summer Enrichment Program.
Dureah Deleon, 13, said his favorite art project so far was coming out to the park and studying trees.
“We studied the trees and the texture and we had to focus on the objects around it,” he said. “Then we had to go back and draw it.”
The teen said his tree turned out as he envisioned it during the time he spent studying it. Rogers helped him recall that the technique is called observation.
During the summer, first through eighth graders participate in the Fine Arts Camp, featuring music, drama, art and gymnastics. The fine arts course offers a creative outlet for self-expression. An End-of-Summer showcase allows participants to earn recognition.
Campers swim once a week and take a weekly field trip to see a movie, go to a library or visit a museum, among other options.
This summer enrichment program also offers Sylvan tutoring in reading, math and writing taught by trained Sylvan Learning Center staff. Earlier in the summer, the kids put on a fashion show.
Each afternoon at 3 p.m., campers shift to a social recreation club where they play games and participate in activities including tournaments, challenges and guest presentations.
Priscilla Hurst, a spokesperson for the organization, explained the summer camp for parents thinking about signing up their children.
“It’s a fine arts program, keeping them on their toes all summer long so when they go back to school they haven’t lost anything.”
She added, “It’s a blast – the kids have fun all day long.”