The Estevan campus of the Southeast College is putting together a summer day camps for children from Estevan and area.
Last year the college did a pilot of the Southeast for Kids summer camps at the Weyburn campus. The format offered this year mirrors the original one and gives parents and their children an opportunity to take part in unique and stimulating summer programming.
“It was a huge success in Weyburn last year… Because of that great success and really positive feedback we’ve received, we decided to launch in Estevan this year,” said Sheena Onrait, manager, marketing and communications for Southeast College.
The camps will be going for five weeks with a different theme each week. Starting July 8 kids will learn about people in their neigbourhood. The week of July 15 will be dedicated to arts, crafts and culture. The sports week will start on July 22. The dynamic design and the performing arts week of August 6-9 will wrap up the programs.
Onrait expects the camps to be quite popular.
“I probably would expect to see what we saw for attendance in Weyburn last year similar to Estevan this year. We might expect to see attendance in Weyburn increase… Most of our programs each week were about midway to full. We did have a few weeks when we were at maximum, and we weren’t able to take any more participants, but we did have a few weeks where we still had a few spots left when the week started,” Onrait said.
The Southeast College for Kids will help parents to keep children occupied in the summer and will also provide an opportunity for participants to get to know what college looks like.
“What we have is a different dynamic. We offer a little different programming than what the other camps offer. Two years ago we did a really good feasibility analysis, and looked at the camps in the areas, and figured out how we could make our camp just a little bit different, how we could offer something a little bit different, and utilize some of our college classrooms, and bring kids into our educational facilities, so they know the Southeast College exists in both Estevan in Weyburn,” Onrait said.
The college is looking to hire a couple of summer students to help with the camps and will also rely on volunteers.
“If anyone has some time or has some area of expertise, and they might think that they might want to volunteer, they can get a hold of our Estevan campus and ask to speak to Melanie (Mantei),” said Onrait.
Parents or caregivers are invited to register children in individual weeks or for the entire five-week summer camp. The program is for children ages six through 10. Cost is $110 per week per participant. The online registration is now open and space is limited.
“It’s quick and easy registration online on our website. If parents or caregivers have any questions, they can call our campus, and our campus staff can answer the questions they might have,” said Onrait.
