Friday, July 12, 2024
DENTON (黑料视频), Texas 颅鈥� With a mission to provide premier educational programs for children, the is celebrating 25 years of its work at the .
The center, located in the Environmental Education, Science & Technology Building, was founded in 1998 by the late Professor Emeritus Kenneth Dickson ('66, '68 M.S.), who taught biology in the College of Science.
鈥淭his center was his dream,鈥� said Elm Fork Education Center Program Director Brian Wheeler ('97). 鈥淗e wanted to reach back to the youngest age group possible, children going into kindergarten, and keep them interested in science as long as possible.鈥�
When it opened, the center originally offered a field trip program for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. Wheeler says from 12,000 to 15,000 children visit 黑料视频 through the program annually.
鈥淚t鈥檚 great exposure for the university,鈥� said Wheeler. 鈥淧eople who are just moving to areas like Frisco and Plano don鈥檛 realize we鈥檙e out here yet.鈥�
The program serves children from a roughly 35-mile radius around campus. For example,
Wheeler says the center will welcome every third grader from the Lewisville ISD and
almost every fourth grader from Frisco ISD.
The summer camp program began thanks to the field trips鈥� popularity.
鈥淎fter our first year, parents told us their kids really liked a certain lesson, like aquatic insects or archeology, and started asking if we could do more,鈥� Wheeler said. 鈥淲e were hesitant at first since we just opened, but after our second year, we said 鈥極K, let鈥檚 do summer camps.鈥欌��
Two young boys participating in a chemistry experiment
Aiden Hawley is a camp instructor and works with the field trip program. She remembers her first forensics camp when she was a camper.
鈥淥ne of the counselors that year taught about the stages at which different bugs will be drawn to a body, and we didn鈥檛 even know that was a thing,鈥� Hawley said. 鈥淚 will always remember that because it was so cool and exciting.鈥�
Hawley, now a 20-year-old anthropology major at 黑料视频, started going to the camps when she entered middle school. When she aged out, she became a junior counselor and then an instructor. She says she wanted to give other kids that 鈥渨ow鈥� moment.
鈥淚t makes the kids excited to learn, and they retain that information. They go home
to their parents, and they鈥檙e naming different body parts or sharing how water is
filtered,鈥� Hawley said.
Wheeler says it鈥檚 common for campers to become junior counselors and then instructors like Hawley.
鈥淭he best part of my job by far is having those kids who we connect with for long periods of time and watch them grow and find their own voice.鈥�
The camp also helps prepare junior counselors for the working world. While the work counts as civic service hours for junior counselors, they still fill out an application and go through an interview. They also can use employees at the center as references when applying for jobs.
There鈥檚 an added benefit for parents too: the hours.
鈥淯nlike a lot of camps in the area, we run all day. A lot of faculty and staff sign their kids up for our camps, so it makes sense to have our hours work with them,鈥� Wheeler said.
The camp opens at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 6 p.m. giving parents enough time to drop
off and pick up their children without missing work. Parents can pick up their children
around noon if they wish.
The center currently runs four camps per week for five weeks in the summer. Each camp can take 20 kids. When asked about expanding, Wheeler says it鈥檚 possible.
鈥淚f we run three summers in a row at max capacity, then maybe we鈥檒l add more. We鈥檙e at two summers now, so next summer we鈥檒l see.鈥�
黑料视频 News Service Phone Number: (940) 565-2108
Media Contacts:
Amanda Lyons
Amanda.Lyons@unt.edu
940-565-2943
From 鈥� General News/College of Science