Superintendent North visited with students at Arbor Station Elementary as they did some "animal" math with goldfish crackers.

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Many Douglas County students are staying busy this summer with camps at local schools. Opportunities include camps for athletes, for gifted students, for special needs students, and for English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students. Students entering kindergarten and middle school also have opportunities to attend camps to introduce them to their new environment prior to the first day of school.

Academic enrichment is provided through programs funded by 21^st Century Grants and Title I funds, and bus transportation is provided for most academic camps. Breakfast and lunch is served free of charge to students through the Summer Feeding Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. New Superintendent Trent North visited three schools on June 15 to meet students, teachers, and staff.

Arbor Station Elementary is hosting a three-week program with students from Arbor Station, Dorsett Shoals, and Winston Elementary. The program is funded by the 21^st Century Community Learning Center STAR Grant. Approximately 80 students are attending June 5-22 from 8:00-1:30, Monday through Thursday. The camp features an “animal” theme, and campers have journeyed to Zoo Atlanta, SunTrust Stadium, the Blue Heron Nature Preserve, and Sweetwater Creek State Park. On days without field trips, students rotate through centers with hands-on learning and physical fitness activities. Three elementary schools, two middle schools, and three high schools serve as additional locations for 21^st Century Grant summer programs, serving 18 schools total.

The CHAMP summer program at Lithia Springs High School and two additional high schools is funded by the 21^st Century Grant. At Lithia, activities revolved around a “Movin’ and Groovin’” theme with Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) activities and numerous field trips to promote college and career readiness. College visits to Clayton State University, Oglethorpe University, and Clark Atlanta University along with field trips to the Delta Flight Museum and the Civil Rights Museum were among the activities.

For Turner and Stewart Middle School students, science and math were the focus areas of the EPIC summer camp hosted at Turner Middle School which took place June 5-15. The summer program was funded by Title I. Camps are taking place at three additional elementary schools June 5-29, serving students from all 10 elementary Title I schools in the county.

An ESOL camp was held for students from all high schools at Lithia Springs High School June 5-23. Students were able to work toward high school credits with the Edgenuity online learning platform. Two-week ESOL camps were also held for students from seven elementary schools and one middle school. The curriculum was language based and focused on developing fluency in English. The programs were funded by Title III and served around 200 students in grades K-12.