This summer, TCS is teaming up with the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) and Kids Film/TV to take a deep-dive into the arts, media, STEAM learning and more for speciality camps for rising grade 4 – 8 students! Learn about why we’re collaborating with MODA, how these special offerings differ from what’s offered during the school year, and what other exciting changes families can look forward to from Extended Day & Summer Learning Director Christy Robinson.
Why are you offering summer enrichment camps?
We have had a great run servicing younger children in our summer camps and older kids with our CIT (counselor-in-training) program, calledLeadership Academy, to develop leadership [skills].
There are some children that did not want to participate in a leadership capacity, though. They wanted to be in a class. So, we listened to the interests of those students (grade 4 – 8) and what they are looking for to create enrichment summer camps.
What does the collaboration with MODA look like?
We found that the area of technology is what most of those students want to explore. Naturally, we thought of the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) because it is right down the street, and we’re education partners with them already. They’ve done some things with us [during the day] and in our school-year enrichment program.
They hosted a summer camp last year at MODA that was quite successful and [said] they needed more time with students. We are listening to the interest of our families and trying to accommodate those [students] that want to go deeper and in those areas. So, MODA is hosting a series of camps at TCS, and we’ll have Kids Film/TV running longer sessions (2 weeks).
How did you decide on which enrichment activities to offer during the school year?
We really tried hard to take in feedback from students and parents while putting this program together. [This has allowed] students to get a full experience and have more in-depth learning opportunities through these specialized classes. We went ahead and added more classes each semester, and we’ve [already] found that the financial investment for families is better.
We’ve structured the Enrichment program during the school year so that if students wanted to do athletics or other classes, they could do that in the next semester and they would have had a nice full range of activities they can switch to and build special skills. They are actually doing amazing things in the Enrichment classes! For example, in Kids Film/TV students are creating home movies, [in another class] students are making beautiful art projects, while other students are sharpening their basketball skills because they’re getting more time outside of TCS Athletics. We’re making sure that there is a sound curricular experience that’s coming out of the Enrichment program versus just something to pass time.
Is there anything that families can look forward to for next year?
I always want to know what our children are interested in because that’s what makes our programs work. Trends change! Who would have thought that kids now in Discovery want to do double dutch? At one point, it was making and tinkering that was popular and now, it’s different levels of programming.
Parents can expect us to listen to the heartbeat and interests of our kids and keep those old faithful programs. Right now, we are still building these [vendor] relationships so we can have them facilitate some other things for the day school program, i.e. activity choice for students. These relationships help create opportunities for other areas of the school along with Extended Day. You’ll start seeing more staff/faculty crossover with more activities done together. That keeps the TCS experience rich from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Registration is open for TCS Summer Camp 2020! Visit tcsatl.org/camps for dates, details and pricing. Space is limited!
