Here in Lancaster ISD, the learning doesn’t just stop after that last dismissal bell in June. At Elsie Robertson STEM Middle School, students from different areas participate in the Summer Aviation STEM Exposure & Exploration Camp.
As soon as you enter the building, the college decorations, different projects and summer excitement consume you. In the classrooms, students like Jael Harried, a sixth grader who attends Siloam Springs Middle School but chose Lancaster ISD for summer enrichment, admits that the program is “challenging, but fun” because they’re using skills like thinking, creativity, and tons of communication to complete the many hands-on activities. Even though I was only there for a little while, the students were excited to tell me what was going on and what they enjoyed. It was evident in our discussions that they were eager to continue their learning and come back again next summer.
But the students aren’t the only ones who enjoyed themselves, so did the teachers. As they taught their lessons and broke down their assignments, it was like a scene from a Disney movie with the perfect teachers and students whose eyes filled with happiness and minds filled with questions ready to be asked. With the “flexible lesson plans”, Coach Josh Vanison, the sixth grade Physical Education teacher, says “with teamwork, things are working out fine.” At the end of the program, I think it’s safe to say that many of the STEM Camp teachers would agree with Kisha Anderson, a sixth grade teacher, that the kids should walk away from this knowing that “it’s okay to make mistakes, we’re not always right the first time, and when making those mistakes they should learn from those mistakes to not repeat the same process.”
Article and photos by: Stephanie Holmes, Lancaster ISD Communications Summer Intern
As soon as you enter the building, the college decorations, different projects and summer excitement consume you. In the classrooms, students like Jael Harried, a sixth grader who attends Siloam Springs Middle School but chose Lancaster ISD for summer enrichment, admits that the program is “challenging, but fun” because they’re using skills like thinking, creativity, and tons of communication to complete the many hands-on activities. Even though I was only there for a little while, the students were excited to tell me what was going on and what they enjoyed. It was evident in our discussions that they were eager to continue their learning and come back again next summer.
But the students aren’t the only ones who enjoyed themselves, so did the teachers. As they taught their lessons and broke down their assignments, it was like a scene from a Disney movie with the perfect teachers and students whose eyes filled with happiness and minds filled with questions ready to be asked. With the “flexible lesson plans”, Coach Josh Vanison, the sixth grade Physical Education teacher, says “with teamwork, things are working out fine.” At the end of the program, I think it’s safe to say that many of the STEM Camp teachers would agree with Kisha Anderson, a sixth grade teacher, that the kids should walk away from this knowing that “it’s okay to make mistakes, we’re not always right the first time, and when making those mistakes they should learn from those mistakes to not repeat the same process.”
Article and photos by: Stephanie Holmes, Lancaster ISD Communications Summer Intern