Summer camps appeal to a range of ages, interests

This summer, kids can tell stories or work with robots, athletic trainers or their voices thanks to several summer camps offered by the University of Georgia College of Education.

While the programs reflect outreach that the college does throughout the year, summertime allows professors and graduate students to embrace specialized topics and programs.

For example, Lucas Jensen, a graduate student in the Department of Career and Information Studies, teaches an array of camps focusing on the digital arts. His camps, which are part of the UGA Summer Academy, focus on music production and game design. "We've expanded from video game design into a number of other areas, including creative entrepreneurship, music production and tabletop/RPG design," he said.

Camps are Game Design for Tabletop and RPGs (June 1-5), Video Game Design (June 8-12), Video Game Prototyping (June 15-26), Video Game Development (June 15-26), Beta Beats: Basic Music Production (July 6-10 and 11-14), and Startup Studio: Creative Entrepreneurship (July 13-17). The camps are for ages 11-17 or 13-17, depending on the program, and are $360. Visit www.georgiacenter.uga.edu/youth/summer-academy for details.

Emily Hodge, director for the college's Educational Technology Center in the Department of Career and Information Studies is leading two camps focusing on robotics, one for teachers and one for students.

STEM Integrated Robotics Education Curriculum Teacher Workshop (9 a.m.-3 p.m. June 1-2) is open to teachers who want to learn more about using robotics in their lesson plans. The Parent/Child STEM Integrated Robotics Education Curriculum Summer Camp (9 am.-noon June 8-12) is for teams of parents and children ages 9-12. Each camp is $250, $100 for each additional child. For more information or to register, visit bit.ly/COErobotics.

Another hands-on camp teaches high schoolers what it's like to work with athletes. The 17th annual **Athletic Training Student Workshop **(June 15-17), hosted by the College of Education's kinesiology department, is a chance for high school students to experience sports medicine and develop skills such as taping and bracing, assessments and conditioning. The workshop is $340 for residential students ($300 for commuters) with all meals included in the price. For details, visit coe.uga.edu/events/calendar/atsw.

Kids who are into writing can hone their skills at Camp Red Clay (9 a.m.-2 p.m. June 8-11), a weeklong camp offered through the Red Clay Writing Project, another outreach program of the College of Education. Rising third- through 12th-graders can take part in sessions led by local teachers and professors. The camp is $110 and registration forms are available at t.uga.edu/1iQ.

And the Summer Intensive Communication Programs offered by the College of Education's Speech and Hearing Clinic can help children (and adults) with speech, literacy and language skills. Puppy Talk (June 15-26) provides intervention and early literacy, speech and language, and social communication skills for children ages 3-6. Big Dawgs (July 6-17) is for rising second- through fifth-graders with identified needs in language fluency/stuttering, speech production and writing or reading. Smooth Dawgs (July 6-17) is for adolescents who stutter. Each two-week session is $500, plus $75 supply fee. For details on these and a summer adult program, visit coe.uga.edu/shc.