The many faces of Camp Innovate

Photo by Rachael Bradley, Rutherford County Schools

With the first day of the school year 2022-23 set to begin for students on Monday August, students all across Rutherford County have been active throughout the summer in a number of various camps.

There have been sports camps, Girl Scout and Boy Scout camps, music and art camps and church camps.

Among the Rutherford County Schools' summer learning initiatives, was the Camp Innovate Summer Enrichment Program for gifted learners. The theme was Steampark Adventures and students were able to design and build thrill ride prototypes and theme parks.

Photos of the weekend long camp captured the laughter, the thrill and the excitement on the faces of the students as they worked to design the thrill rides.

Camp Innovate was available to all identified Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted (AIG) students in Rutherford County Schools who are currently in grades 3-5. Camp Innovate was held at Ellenboro Elementary School the last week of July with a goal to provide free learning experiences that challenged and developed students' creativity, innovation, and problem-solving skills through engaging and exciting activities.

"Camp Innovate is one of my favorite weeks of the year, said Ritchie Garland, director of community relations and AIG Coordinator.

"The energy and innovation that we see each day is so inspiring," Garland continued. "We are so grateful to Meta (Facebook) for awarding us the Community Action Grant to provide this opportunity for our gifted learners." During the week three representatives from Meta were on campus to take part in the camp and to observe the students designing thrill rides.

There were 178 elementary students participating and 16 high school students that served as student leaders.

Meredith Mason Street is one of three AIG advisors in the Rutherford County Schools.

"Camp Innovate continues to be my favorite part of my job," she said. "It is what every educator dreams about - to see students get excited about learning in a more relaxed setting, connect with old and new friends, and be mentored by our camp student leaders who are high school AIG students."

She said students learned about the design principles that professionals use to create thrill rides and theme parks. "Students were involved in designing and building thrill ride prototypes through collaboration, coding, marketing skills, and more," she said.

"I was especially thrilled to be able to connect our middle school students with a fellow Park Scholar who is a mechanical engineer that develops attractions for Universal through Zoom," she added.