Summer is coming to an end here at Round Rock ISD, and the district’s various summer camps are wrapping up with one more week of camps for all ages.
This week, we explored two camps led by Round Rock ISD educators. Emerging Entrepreneurs and Storybook Creation and Illustrations, both at Elsa England Elementary School.
Attendees spend their days learning how to become successful future business owners at the Emerging Entrepreneurs camp led by Megan Gilman. The groups learned how to identify a common problem, and create an invention that solved whatever issue arose, while learning the basics of business and entrepreneurship.
“I like having a team that I can work with because they’re really creative and they’re really nice!” said incoming 4th grader, Sanan Patel. “We’re getting to make our own ideas and build and brainstorm. It’s really interesting to me!”
Sanan’s group worked on creating an invention that could pick up pencil shavings.
In another summer class, Ashley Vieira’s Storybook Creations Camp helped students express themselves through writing and art. They followed standard writing styles to create short stories before completing them with accompanying illustrations.
“I think a lot of people find writing to be an outlet, and this camp gives students the space to do that,” said Vieira. “Students come in and have creative freedom to create a book about something they enjoy writing about. They also get to share it with people who have the same mindset as them.”
The students in the class took advantage of the opportunity to tackle their feelings.
“I’m happy with the book I made. I came in wanting to write a happy story, but I felt like I had to write something about the grief I’ve felt over losing my family pet,” said incoming 6th grader Sam Watry. “I felt like I had to write something for the people in my household who might also want to remember Thor and read it.”
He says he didn’t really have a way to deal with his feelings, but feels better now that he’s released them in a fitting tribute to his beloved pet, a short story entitled ‘The Analogy of Life’.
These Round Rock ISD camps have helped guide and grow students’ skills while keeping them engaged, and helping them make new friends, throughout the summer.
