VGCC Science Department head Steve McGrady leads students on a walk around campus during a session on local plant life during the 2011 Science Camp. (VGCC Photo)
Vance-Granville Community College held its first-ever Science Camp for middle school students in the summer of 2011, and the overwhelmingly positive response from campers and their parents has inspired college officials to hold a similar camp this year. The VGCC Science Camp will be held June 18-22 on the college’s Main Campus in Henderson. Young people preparing to enter grades six through eight 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 campus.
Both new students and campers who enjoyed the 2011 camp are invited to register, as this year’s sessions will not cover the same material as last year’s. Topics and activities are scheduled to include model rockets; sea life including sharks, starfish and clams; building bat houses; vermiculture (composting using worms); rocks and gems; and microbes (the “good germs” versus the “bad germs”). In addition to the usual focus on natural sciences, this year’s camp has added new activities related to computer science and technology. Students will learn about building computers and creating computer games.
The cost to attend the week-long camp is $125, which includes lunch each day and a camp T-shirt.
“This camp is going to be fun and full of unique opportunities to explore science,” according to VGCC Biology instructor Button Brady, who is once again helping to spearhead the camp. “Middle school is a great age at which we can expose students to concepts that will help them to get ready for further science education and prepare them for the jobs of the future, which increasingly depend on skills in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).”
Registration forms for the 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 1. For more information, contact VGCC Science Department head Steve McGrady at (252) 738-3339 or mcgrady@vgcc.edu.