CAS Summer Camps
Come and find out all the amazing things our community鈥檚 kids can learn in CAS Summer Camps!
In June of 2023, as one of its initiatives to connect with the greater 麻豆无码版n community, CAS launched its Summer Camps for middle and high school students, and they were met with immediate success. Five camps鈥擩PC Media, Biology, Mathematics, Orienteering, and Forensic Anthropology鈥攂rought in 95 students that first year. These camps also provided opportunities for faculty to work alongside CAS students, who were hired as camp counselors, which gave them more opportunities for teaching and leadership roles. Feedback from the community was overwhelmingly positive, and there was a push for more Summer Camps with a broader variety of subjects. As a result, CAS now offers more Summer Camps, including Beginning Japanese, Creative Writing, Painting, Chemistry, Dance, and more.
Professor Katie O鈥橪oughlin, the CAS faculty member running the Dance Camp over the last three years, finds that the camps are a great way to connect not only to the community, but to elementary students with the potential to become future UAA students. 鈥淩unning this camp has been a fun way for middle school students to experience something new on a college campus,鈥� she says. 鈥淣ot only do they enjoy the dance classes, they also talk about their dreams for their future and what they want to pursue when they grow up, which happens naturally by being on campus.鈥� Just bringing students to campus for a week helps them to envision a future that includes UAA.
CAS Summer Camps include a week of focused and intensive learning. Professor O鈥橪oughlin says, 鈥淭he UAA summer dance camp gives middle school students an opportunity to experience a variety of dance styles, including ballet, jazz, lyrical, hip hop, social dances, acro and more. Campers will learn choreography in these different styles and then perform the dances in a small showcase for friends and family at the end of the week.鈥� However, her camp is open to anyone in the appropriate age group with any level of experience: 鈥淭here is no dance experience necessary for campers to join us!鈥�
Professor O鈥橪oughlin believes the Summer Camps are a great way to raise CAS鈥� visibility outside the university itself: 鈥淚 think this camp, and the others, are valuable to the Anchorage community because they help young students feel like they belong on campus and know that if they choose UAA for their studies in higher education, they are already comfortable in the campus buildings and classrooms.鈥� So, not only are the camps a fun way to spend time with our younger community members, but they can act as an effective recruiting tool as well. And, as an additional benefit, Summer Camps can earn a monetary bonus for the departments that host them, giving CAS faculty and staff more funding options and opportunities.
So, thank you to Professor Katie O鈥橪oughlin and all the other faculty who head CAS Summer Camps for all the work you do, and for advancing the 鈥淏e the Public Square鈥� pillar of CAS鈥� Strategic Plan in such creative, inventive, and informative ways.