TRINITY'S DREAM FOR HAPPY CAMPERS
SUMMER PROGRAM FOR HARTFORD CHILDREN
[6 METRO/SPORTS FINAL Edition]
Hartford Courant - Hartford, Conn.
Author: SUSAN KANIA
Date: Jul 26, 2004
Start Page: B.3
Section: CONNECTICUT

(Copyright The Hartford Courant 2004. Reprinted with permission)

Science is Tyrisse Ward's favorite subject at Simpson-Waverly School in Hartford, so he enjoyed a chance to do more experiments this summer at the Dream Camp/National Youth Sports Program held at Trinity College in Hartford.

One recent morning, Tyrisse, 8, joined other campers for a "Green Thumb" project. He examined a lima bean seed with a magnifying glass, before sealing it in a plastic bag with a wet paper towel and taping it to a window where he could watch it grow.

"I saw squiggly lines on my seed, and I think they're going to grow into roots," said Tyrisse.

Tyrisse was one of more than 300 Hartford children to take part in the free summer program, which Trinity has hosted since 1998. The campus is operated by ESF Summer Camps and staffed by counselors who are local teachers or college students.

Children aged 6 to 9 participate in Dream Camp's activities such as arts and crafts, games, swimming, science, geography, dance, storytelling and skits. Many campers also attend the program's after- school enrichment activities during the school year, in which Trinity students volunteer as tutors and mentors.

Older campers, 10 to 16, participate in the National Youth Sports Program part of camp, where they play basketball, softball, flag football, hockey or handball. Fun academic activities also are part of their day.

At Dream Camp last week, the younger children danced in a conga line with stuffed animals brought from home.

"This camp is great," said David Smieja, 6, showing off his bear dressed like Harry Potter. "I like swimming best, and sometimes in sports, you can play catch."

As scout-of-the-day for his "tribe," David announced proudly the tribe had brought in 13 stuffed animals for the competition. But with a cheer, another tribe with 17 animals won the honor of carrying the camp "spirit stick" for the day.

In another activity, best friends Alyssa Rivera, 7, and Ayanna McDougald, 6, of the Montessori Magnet School in Hartford, bounced and wiggled their way into winning a dance contest. They giggled as they said that "wacky hair day," when a lot of kids dyed their hair blue, orange or green, was one of their favorite days at camp.

The campers were intrigued when the title of this year's camp play, "I Dream of Bermuda," with parts for pirates, sailors and jungle animals was announced.

"I'd like to be a boa constrictor or maybe a hammerhead shark," said James Hudson, 7.

The students lay quietly on the floor, as they took an imaginary trip to the jungle. Then the room resounded with the hissing, screeching and growling of jaguars, monkeys, lions and snakes as they brought their favorite animals to life.

For their next class, "World Tour," in which they'd already "traveled" to New Zealand and the North and South Poles, they took a trip to Italy, the country of the week. They sat in a circle and tossed around a globe beach ball as they practiced counting from one to 10 in Italian, and they created flags of Italy with chunky red and green crayons or markers.

Camp counselor Mary Franco, who is a teacher's aide at Dwight Elementary School, a student at Central Connecticut State University and the parent of two campers, looked on as the students added sea creatures, from starfish to dolphins to mermaids, to their underwater scenes in art class. "Everything here is educational," Franco said. "The kids look forward to coming, and they always carry a smile."

The program at Trinity is made possible through nearly $500,000 contributed annually, including a major gift from an anonymous Trinity alumnus, with support from the Ensworth Charitable Foundation, The George A. and Grace L. Long Foundation, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving and the J. Walton Bissell Foundation.