Technology camp provides fun, summer education
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RONAN — Summer camps for most kids don’t make the cut without a lake, sports or arts and crafts.
But for a few Ronan middle school students, getting wrapped up in computer programs, the construction of toothpick bridges and stop animation was an excellent way to spend a week of summer afternoons.
From June 28- July 2, these lucky students enjoyed the annual technology camp for middle school students.
“Being a nerd is fun,” Ronan Technology Camp Instructor Brian Youngren explained, while holding a camera during the stop-animation segment of the camp.
The kids play out a small scene, step-by-step while the student directing takes pictures of each move individually. Learning how to produce a stop-animation film is one of the skills these students will practice at the technology camp.
When they retired to their computer lab, the children utilized a program that put the shots in sequential order and produced a movie-like effect.
It’s a lot like clay animation, Ronan Technology Camp Instructor Jesse Gray explained.
Because they were brought up with this technology, these kids don’t hesitate to dive into a new computer program or the digital world, in general.
“We just looked at a new way of using what they already have,” Gray said.
He explained that many of the kids already own digital cameras, and they know how to use them. It’s the new tricks they are learning that make the camp fun and interesting, such as stop animation.
The sunny weather that Thursday provided was just the opportunity the kids needed to get outside and star in their very own videos.
Slow motion races and tackles on the football field played out as one student directed the entire progression.
During the unorthodox summer camp, the students learned tools that included Photoshop, a bridge-building program, and a stop-animation program.
But it wasn’t all work and no play. The camp gave the middle school students the chance to interact and see their best buds in the middle of the long summer.
On the final day, the students had a competition to see whose toothpick bridge was able to sustain the most weight.
All but one bridge was destroyed in the process, but the students seemed to be excited to see whose bridge would be destroyed.
For Youngren and Gray, the camp is an important part of the education process.
Sometimes the pair just gave the students simple instructions and let them figure the program out for themselves.
Some of the younger students needed more time and assistance in developing their projects.
Youngren explained that it was encouraging to see the students evolve and become more confident in their work.
“I think more schools will have to go this way because classrooms will eventually be interactive,” Youngren said.
