Help sought
MEF is seeking volunteers who are rising eighth-graders through rising seniors to fill multiple junior counselor positions. MEF Director Katie Hanners said the junior counselor position is a good opportunity for Signal Mountain High School students in the International Baccalaureate program to earn their required volunteer hours, and volunteers can invest as much or as little time as they want.For more information about the junior counselor positions, visit meftoday.org.
The Mountain Education Foundation is introducing a Summer Enrichment Day Camp for six consecutive weeks starting May 31. Each week will cover a new topic. Campers have the option to attend for one week or all six weeklong sessions.
MEF Executive Director Katie Hanners said that in looking at the camps offered by the foundation in previous years, she found that the most popular camps incorporated STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math), and that participants tend to prefer camps which offer an opportunity to be outside or to try new foods.
So MEF officials thought it would make more sense to come up with weeklong themed camps that each include elements of STEAM, at least one day of cooking and some sort of motor-skills activity, with at least 40 percent of the time spent outside.
“We wanted to do something parents would be thrilled about because their kids are learning, and that kids would love because it doesn’t feel like they’re learning,” she said.
Kim Rackel, who led several of MEF’s most popular camps in the past, was selected to direct and create the curriculum for the six Summer Enrichment Day Camp sessions.
“By offering six weeks of camp with the same director over all six camps, it gives us a lot more consistency in our camp offerings,” Hanners said, adding that the new program is a full day, as opposed to the half-day camps offered in the past.
Camps will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. with most running Monday-Friday, aside from the first session beginning May 31 which will be held Tuesday-Friday.
The camps are open to rising pre-kindergartners ages 4-5 to rising seventh-graders.
Hanners said MEF will continue to offer some of its past camps, such as the half-day athletic camps, the writing camp for high-schoolers and a weeklong robotics camp.
Additional information on MEF’s camp offerings and online registration are available at meftoday.org.
In an effort to promote the new camps, MEF is offering a $25 discount off the $225 cost for one week of camp to those who register before March 31.