The Sudie A. Fulford Community Learning Center on the campus of East Georgia State College recently wrapped up its 2022 summer camps. This year, the Fulford Community Learning Center was able to host five different summer camps for children in first through sixth grade.
The first camp held in June was the Emanuel Arts Council Art Camp. During the annual camp students learned how to draw, paint, and make clay pinch pots and door hangers. The camp, hosted by the Emanuel Arts Council for rising third through fifth grade students, was made possible by a generous grant from the Mill Creek Foundation.
The second camp of the summer was the Magnolia Midlands Georgia Youth Science and Technology Center (MMGYSTC) Discovery STEM Camp. During the four-day camp students learned about the engineering design process and a series of steps that engineers follow to find a solution to a problem. The steps included problem solving processes such as determining objectives and constraints, brainstorming ideas, creating prototypes, testing the design, and evaluation.
The third camp, Makerspace Day Camp, was also hosted by MMGYSTC and Erin Youmans, the MMGYSTC Coordinator. A makerspace is a place where students can create, problem solve, and develop skills, talents, thinking, and mental rigor. The students enjoyed exploring, designing, and creating while expanding their knowledge base.
The Fulford Center partnered with MMGYSTC during the summer to host Astronomy Camp for the second year in a row. This camp was offered to rising first and second graders. Participants explored the solar system and universe through a variety of lessons and hands-on activities.
The final and largest camp of the summer was Camp Invention. The weeklong summer adventure provided opportunities for open-ended, hands-on exploration of science, technology, engineering and more. Rotating through a variety of exciting activities each day, children collaborated with friends thinking creatively and inventing their own solutions to real-world challenges. Participants dove into cutting-edge ocean research as they adopted their own robotic fish, designed aquatic plants, and took their fish friend home in a mini tank. They also discovered real space exploration technology when they created Spacepacks and AstroArm devices, mined an asteroid and observed erupting ice volcanoes. Campers experimented with the fun of physics, engineering, and gaming as they designed, built and tested their own mega marble arcades.
The Fulford Center would like to thank Jacquie Brasher and the Emanuel Arts Council, Erin Youmans and MMGYSTC, Macy Fagler, Sierra Milligan, Jean Schwabe, and the many other people who helped make the Fulford Summer Camps a huge success!
To view photos from the summer camps, visit East Georgia State College’s Flickr album at the following link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/egcpr/albums.
