Camps offered to youths
By Christy Larsen-
Summer Forty-Niner
Cal State Long Beach
classrooms will be used this summer for two camps that will teach approximately
950 young students how to be better writers and readers, said Kim Amadore,
director of Young Writers’ Camp.
“The goal of Young
Writers’ Camp is to make writing fun for the students,” Amadore said.
“We teach them techniques they can use in their writing.
Young Writers’
Camp along with Young Readers’ Camp are administered by the CSULB-South
Basin Writing Project and the College of Liberal Arts, Amadore said.
Dr. Ron Strahl, CSULB
English professor, is the director for the nationally recognized program
that has been at the university for more than 10 years.
“We challenge
[children] to take risks as writers in the safe environment of the camp,”
she said. “The social comfort of camp helps.”
Each student receives
a published anthology of collected writing from each class at the end of
camp, Amadore said.
Young Writers’ Camp
is for students ranging from 1st through 12th grades, she said. The
writers’ camp is offered in the morning. Young Readers’ Camp is offered
in the afternoon. Both camps are offered in two three-week sessions.
“If students wish
to stay all day and attend both camps,” Amadore said, “we provide supervision
at lunch time and walk them over to Young Readers’ Camp.”
Both camps provide
a 20-to-2 student-to-teacher ratio, with a credentialled teacher and a
teacher assistant in each classroom, she said.
“The teachers are
the best of the best,” Amadore said. “Many [of the teachers] are
teacher consultants and involved in training other teachers.”
Young Readers’ Camp
is for students ranging from 1st through 8th grades, said Lucy Farmer,
co-director of the camp.
“We hope to send
the students away with one or two strategies that will help them during
the school year,” Farmer said.
CSULB President Robert
Maxson said he supports these programs and recognizes their value.
“If youngsters can
learn to read well and if they can write well, they can handle everything
else,” Maxson said.
“I’m just so proud
that Long Beach State does this program. The most important thing
is that it helps the children, but a secondary benefit is the goodwill
it brings with moms and dads, and the good feelings about the school,”
Maxson said.
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