This year, resolve to encourage your kids’ interests in a useful way.
“You don’t have to feel guilty about how much screen time they have when they’re coding and using a skill set that will benefit them in the future,” said Carrie Van Tassel, BOCES Enrichment Resource Center Program Manager.
Implemented in 2010 and refined each year since then to best reflect parents’ and students’ interests, the BOCES summer camps immerse students in a series of fun programs that can’t be found anywhere else.
“Our instructors are bringing new, interesting technology to students who wouldn’t get to use it in a classroom in their typical day-to-day experience,” said Van Tassel.
In addition to coding skills, BOCES STEM camps explore technological innovations including digital photography, design, and 3D printing to encourage students to create, invent and become the leading thinkers of tomorrow.
GET CURIOUS
Curiosity breeds invention.
“It’s futuristic in some ways, but it’s the world they’re living in, in another,” said Van Tassel.
One way students look for solutions to today’s problems is by examining the patterns that exist in nature. This biomimicry exploration goes beyond alleviating “summer slide.” It sparks a curiosity in children that will courageously carry them toward a lifetime of learning.
BOCES STEM campers go on the nationwide scavenger hunt happening right here when they participate in the camp’s geocaching activities and explore hands-on, the worlds of Adirondack art and survival skills, simple machines, forensics, animation and even fashion design through the unique BOCES STEM and STEAM camp experiences.
GET ACTIVE
“It’s loud, messy, interactive, project-based fun with an educational experience they’re not going to get anywhere else,” said Van Tassel.
Taught by passionate, certified professionals in a small 15:1 student-to-teacher environment, the day camps are thoughtfully planned out throughout the year and balanced with an eye toward summertime fitness.
“It hits a niche that’s really under-represented and gives these kids a place where they really fit in,” she said.
GET COOKING
BOCES popular Farm-to-Table Culinary Camp combines trips to local farms with knowledge from professional chef instructors Bruce Hoffmann and WNYT Channel 13 News “Let’s Eat” contributor Maureen Clancy, about kitchen safety, healthy food choices and local production processes.
“It’s a part of life - a life skill - whether you’re going into it as a career or cooking for yourself and your family; food is important to all of us,” said Hoffmann.
Walking around the farms, hearing the farmers’ talks and coming up with creative ideas of what to cook back in the Myers Educational Center kitchen teaches students a chef’s skill, flexibility and quick decision-making ability, while also introducing them to the world of local foods.
“It’s really great to show the students where food comes from…and to hear them say, “Hey, I can do that too,” said Clancy.
BOCES weekly camps for grades 3-8 begin in July. STEM half-day camps are $125/week and run from 8:30 a.m.–11:30 p.m. or 12–3 p.m. Full-day camps are $260/week and run from 8:30 a.m.–3 p.m. Culinary Camp is $250/week and is offered 8:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. Find more information on Facebook, online at www.wswheboces.org or by emailing Carrie Van Tassel at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
