From June 16th through 27th, the Young Eisner Scholar (YES) Day Camp welcomed two cohorts of rising 7th and 8th graders from Ashe and Watauga Counties at the Ashe campus of Wilkes Community College. Far from a typical summer camp experience, the Day Camp introduced these high-achieving students to principles of robotics, video production, Adobe Illustrator, and more.
This was the first YES camp attended by the rising 7th graders, who spent their time at camp learning about coding and robotics.
“For the rising 7th graders, this camp is often the first time they’re all together after being recruited,” said Carly Stephens, YES-Appalachia Lead Educator. “By the end of the week, everyone knew each other’s names and was eager to play games as one big group. It was pretty amazing how quickly they came together—like they had already known each other for years—even though they came from five different schools across Watauga and Ashe Counties.”
José Lopez, a former YES student from Los Angeles, California, flew in to teach the 7th grade students a crash course on coding. The students were provided SparkFun RedBoard Arduino kits to practice their new skills on. Students connected LED lights and potentiometers to their boards, which they then programmed for a number of different functions.
The rising 8th graders spent part of their first week planning, shooting, and editing short films under the guidance of Ashe Early College teacher, Stefan Kunz. Mr. Kunz provided the students with lessons on best practices for storyboarding, shooting videos, and how to edit using Adobe Premiere Pro.
Each year, we try to bring in new guest speakers and teachers so students don’t have to hear from just Susan and me all day,” Carly said. “This summer, we loved partnering with Mr. Kunz, who supported students in completing their video editing and Glowforge projects. His involvement added so much space for creativity, and we’re looking forward to building on that collaboration next year.”
During their second week, the 8th graders spent 3 half-days learning how to use the GlowForge. The GlowForge is a 3D Laser Printer that is able to cut, score, and engrave materials like acrylic and wood. Students used Adobe Illustrator to create designs for customized acrylic night lights and keychains. Bands, pets, popular characters and nature inspired students for their designs.
Each day the 7th and 8th graders would come together for a shared socialization hour and lunch, provided by YES. Students also mingled by playing the game “Mafia,” as well as other games such as Pictionary, UNO, and Never Have I Ever.
“I loved seeing the growth in this group’s sense of wholeness, independence, and creativity. During every snack break or bit of downtime, they asked to play a round of Mafia as a full group," Carly said. “They even created their own “house rules” to keep the game fair and fun for everyone.”
Young Eisner Scholars (YES) is a nonprofit organization that provides high-achieving students from Title I schools in Ashe and Watauga counties with academic support and outside programming. YES identifies these students when they are in 6th grade, and continues providing support for them throughout middle school, high school, post secondary school, and the post-grad job search process. You can read more about YES Appalachian here.
YES Day Camp
YES Day Camp