This summer, children, their families, and teachers will find themselves with the opportunity to explore, create, develop collaboration skills, practice critical thinking, and explore their genius. Victoria ISD is launching its first academic and enrichment camp for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.
And the best part? It’s free. As in free, free.
VISD believes you should not have to pay for this kind of fun. The District was able to fully fund the summer camp through a grant, so there is no cost to our community and no cost to parents and caregivers.
So what does this camp offer for children and our teachers?
For our parents and students, when VISD began developing this camp, we wanted to create something so exciting that kids would willingly get out of bed for five weeks in the summer to learn. So we had to ask: Is it cooking? Is it dancing? Is it something to do with cars? What interests our children in VISD? We talk a lot about students finding their genius. This camp serves to help children explore their genius. All of the programming will be infused with both math and reading to help close the gap on unfinished learning because of the pandemic.
Kids: your genius is calling and we’re here to answer!
The District also asked parents and community members what programming they would like to see offered for their children through a Thoughtexchange that was sent out via parent notifications and on the Victoria ISD social media accounts.
For teachers, the VISD Academic and Enrichment camp was created by asking our teachers: What do you want to teach? When we ask these questions of our staff we are also providing them an area where they are able to further explore their genius too because we know our staff have areas of genius they might not normally get to share in the classroom. So far, we’ve had over 200 staff members sign up to join us for this epic camp experience.
Children finding their genius and teachers exploring their genius will create a summer camp with teachers who are teaching what they love with students who are learning what they love.
What kind of impact do you think this will have after five weeks?
The VISD Academic and Enrichment Camp 2022 will run Wednesday, June 8th through Wednesday, July 13th from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Enrollment will open Monday, March 28 for pre-kindergarten through fifth grade students. Students will be served breakfast starting at 8 a.m. and lunch.
Remember the best part? It’s free. As in free, free. To enroll your child, visit www.visd.net/summercamp. Open enrollment is Monday, March 28 through Friday, April 1.
If you’ve heard Dr. Shepherd speak over the last month or so he’s been sharing two of the biggest drivers in education that come in the question form. They start with the words, “what if...” and “I wonder...”. These are the questions that drive innovation, and these are the questions of continuous improvement. These are aspirational questions to help us all recognize what we might become.
At VISD we are committed to helping our students move past what they can be and towards what they can become - it’s all a part of them finding their genius.
Ashley Scott is the executive director of Communications and Public Relations at Victoria ISD.