VGCC invites middle schoolers to Science Camp
Vance-Granville Community College will offer its fourth annual Science Camp for middle school students this summer. The Science Camp will be held June 16-20, 2014, on the college’s Main Campus in Henderson. Young people preparing to enter grades 6 through 8 are invited to participate in the week-long camp, which will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.
Sessions will be taught by faculty members from the VGCC Science Department and other college programs. Campers will learn not only in the college’s classrooms and labs but also outdoors, as they study nature on the picturesque campus.
Both new students and campers who enjoyed the camps in 2012 or 2013 are invited to register, as this year’s sessions will not cover the same material as in those years. Topics and activities are scheduled to include learning how to identify local plant life; the human skeleton; chemistry; the world of insects; the effects of gravity; and comparing the respiratory and digestive systems of several animals. In one session, students will learn about bluebirds and will build their own bluebird house to take home, with guidance from the VGCC Carpentry department. Another session will allow students to explore a variety of career fields, including electronics engineering , microbiology and pharmacy .
The cost to attend the week-long camp is $125, which includes lunch each day and a camp T-shirt.
“Our outstanding VGCC faculty members collaborate each year to make this a fun learning experience that is unlike anything available in our four-county area,” according to VGCC Biology instructor Button Brady, who has been involved in the camp since its inception. “Our campers will be inspired to explore further science education and to gain the skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) that they will need in the future.”
Science Camp is part of series of VGCC Arts & Sciences camps and workshops being held this year to reach out into the community with unique learning activities. A Biotech workshop was held for high school students in March, and a Creative Writing workshop for adults is scheduled for Tuesday evenings, April 1 through April 22. In addition, the Teenworks Drama Camp will be held at VGCC’s Main Campus, June 23-27, for rising seventh through twelfth graders.
Registration forms for Science Camp have been distributed to middle schools in Vance, Granville, Franklin and Warren counties. The deadline to apply for this year’s camp is May 15. For more information, contact VGCC Science Department Chair Steve McGrady at (252) 738-3339 or mcgradys@vgcc.edu .
Above: From left, 2013 Science Camp participants Al-Leain Young of Henderson and Martina O’Briant of Stem use a microscope to view slides that they made of human cheek cells. (VGCC photo)
