The South Orangetown Central School District hosted a record 362 campers for its third annual Summer STEAM Camp, July 2-13! The half-day summer program began in 2016 with just 200 SOCSD students in grades K-8 and has rapidly grown to meet community demand.
The program, which is offered at no cost to SOCSD families whose children attend WOS, CLE, or SOMS, is coordinated by Instructional Science Coach Samantha Levine (K-8), School Social Worker Jessenia Cursio, and taught by SOCSD teachers. Twenty-eight teachers from across all four schools signed on for this year’s STEAM Camp, and created exciting, hands-on projects to engage campers in everything from bird-watching to 3D printing pancakes to creating stop-motion videography.
“With our ever-expanding program, campers have been able to come into contact with topics that they may not have been able to study in school. Just one example: Rising sixth-graders in Jonathan Rand’s astronomy group hope to start an astronomy club at South Orangetown Middle School,” says Levine. “It was also a great opportunity for teachers to explore subjects themselves, such as propeller-powered vehicles (Art Gunther) and weaving (Michelle Rossi), and consider how they can incorporate more STEAM activities in their classroom.”
“Each group is cycled through an engineering, science, and technology strand that includes engaging hands-on learning experiences,” Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Dr. Brian Culot noted. “One of the things that makes this camp so special is the small group sizes of 12 to 15 kids, and that our campers have the opportunity to experience an exciting curriculum in all subject areas in a risk- and test-free environment.”
Thank you to the South Orangetown community for supporting our Summer STEAM Camp program!
Check out the district Facebook feed for more 2018 SOCSD STEAM Camp photos. Use #SummerSTEAMCamp to search posts!
