On Friday, Aug. 8, almost 60 campers ages 6-13 presented the lessons they'd learned during a five-week science, technology, engineering, and math immersion summer camp at Parkridge Community Center in Ypsilanti.
On Friday, Aug. 8, almost 60 campers ages 6-13 presented the lessons they’d learned during a five-week science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) immersion summer camp at Parkridge Community Center, 591 Armstrong Dr. in Ypsilanti. Teachers and curriculum for the program, known as the Parkridge Summer Learning Experience, were courtesy of Washtenaw Community College (WCC). Supplemental field trips and special guest speakers were provided by a long list of community partners ranging from the Huron River Watershed Council (HRWC) to the Ypsilanti District Library and Rutherford Pool.
Parkridge Summer Learning Experience students.
Ypsilanti Community Schools, Ypsilanti Housing Commission, the Washtenaw Intermediate School District, and Washtenaw County provided scholarships to cover the cost of the program and outings. Ypsilanti’s Palm Leaf Club provided a hot breakfast one day a week throughout the program.
Teachers high-five Parkridge Summer Learning Experience students as they enter.
During the showcase event Aug. 8, several WCC officials spoke to introduce the event. WCC President Rose Bellanca said she started in K-12 education before coming to the community college and noted that this yearly showcase of student achievement is among her favorite events to attend.
Dr. Rose Bellanca asks Parkridge Summer Learning Experience students about their favorite parts of camp.
She took the microphone to ask the young people what they enjoyed and would remember most about the program. Many children mentioned their field trip to local arcade Best in Games, swimming at Rutherford Pool, and fishing with the HRWC, while others mentioned a presentation by Toyota.
Parkridge Summer Learning Experiences students present their projects.
Several of the youth said their favorite part of camp was doing oral history interviews about the history of Parkridge Community Center.
“My favorite was the interview,” said Janay White, a 13-year-old from Ann Arbor in the oldest of four cohorts, whose members are known as “seniors” in the program. “And going to the pool, and making friends.”
Student work for a project on financial literacy.
During the showcase, representatives of each cohort gave presentations showing the STEM lessons they learned over five weeks, from growing seeds in a plastic bag to learning about the difference between “wants” and “needs” in a financial literacy session. Participants also showed how math can “go beyond the worksheet” by performing a rap number called “Count It Up.”
Parkridge Summer Learning Experiences students present their projects.
Before the youth’s presentation and video about the oral history project, summer camp Program Coordinator Jeanice Townsend introduced it by saying she felt Parkridge Community Center’s history was a “very important” topic.
“We wanted to make sure [campers] knew and understood the history of Parkridge Community Center,” she said.
Jeanice Townsend introduces class presentations.
The community center dates back to the 1940s, and WCC began providing its “WCC at Parkridge” services there through a partnership with the city of Ypsilanti in 2012. Townsend showed a video clip of students practicing interview skills with each other and with a community member named Ms. Paulette. This interviewee explained what the Parkridge Community Center looked like and what went on there before the children in the summer camp were born.
Parkridge Summer Learning Experiences students present on their Parkridge oral history project.
In addition to picking up STEM essentials through project-based learning, many participants benefited from the social-emotional experience of the camp as well.
Janay White’s mother, Jeanynne Lewis, says her daughter was initially worried that she didn’t know anyone else in the program. But Janay White ended up being among half a dozen participants who mentioned “making new friends” as a part of the experience they’d remember for the rest of their lives when interviewed by Bellanca.
Janay White and Jeanynne Lewis.
Ashley Terry, executive director of academic access and success for WCC, has been on the job only nine months, and this was his first time attending the summer camp showcase. He says he visited twice a week while the camp was in session to see how the kids and the staff were doing, making sure the experience was tailored to individual needs as much as possible.
He says the social-emotional wins kids mentioned are just as much a part of the Parkridge Summer Learning Experience as strengthening their STEM skills, setting the foundation for socializing, networking, and building relationships as adults.
Ashley Terry.
“If they have these [social-emotional] components at such an early age, as they get older, it just becomes the natural thing to do,” Terry says. “And some of these kids are forming lifelong friendships.”
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