Summer camps

CREATE & INNOVATE

IN PERSON & ONLINE SUMMER CAMPS FOR AGES 7 - 18 museumofdesign.org/camps

Helping today's young designers become the changemakers of the future

Balancing live instruction with detailed self-guided activities

Summer camps for kids who want to change the world

From June 1st – July 29th!

Choose from science, technology, engineering, art, and more! Register at gallowayschool.org/summer.

OPEN TO THE COMMUNITY • PRE-K–12TH GRADE

2022 Summer Camp

2022 Decatur Business Hall of Fame Award

RECEIVE 15% OFF

if you register before May 1st

HAVING FUN BECOMING BETTER PLAYERS AND BETTER PEOPLE

Camps are located at DeKalb Tennis Center: 1400 McConnell Drive, Decatur, GA 30033 To register, email: info@agapetennisacademy.com Call (404) 636-5628, or sign up online at www.agapetennisacademy.com

MODA summer camps offer kids creative exploration

BY BOB PEPALIS

The Museum of Design Atlanta will offer its first in-person summer camps in two years, helping young designers explore their creative sides.

The multi-day design camps will be held in June, July and August for campers ages 7-18. They will learn how to use design tools and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skills. Camps will be held at locations including Georgia Tech and The Galloway School, as well as online.

“It’s summer, right? And so kids want to be together and have fun,” MODA Executive Director Laura Flusche said. “Let’s provide them with a way to do that in real life.”

But, camp organizers are still prepared if COVID-19 cases rise again.

“We have worked to plan those in such a way that, God forbid, there’s another variant or something, they can go virtual so that caregivers aren’t left without something for their children to do that week,” Flusche said.

What appeals to caregivers and kids is that MODA camps teach designer mindsets, such as building empathy for other people as they try to solve a problem.

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The camp is full of opportunities for kids to explore STEM tools, but Flusche said they also need creative problem-solving skills to productively use those tools.

“It’s all good to know how to code something, but if you can’t think of how to use that in a great way, that doesn’t do a lot,” Flusche said.

Virtual camps include Minecraft, Lego or coding camps like Scratch where kids play and build together online.

“Because we attracted a global audience for our camps over the past two years when they were virtual, we wanted to be able to keep offering things to people who might not be in Midtown Atlanta,” she said.

MODA Education Coordinator Meg Williams said several camps are new, including a slow fashion camp. In this camp, kids will think about how the fashion industry contributes to climate change. The camp focuses on reusing or reviving old clothing, to make it something new, exciting and fun again.

A design and entrepreneurship camp will attract kids who are looking to change the world with ideas that they have.

“We’re going to hopefully get the kids to meet with real life entrepreneurs in Atlanta who are working and building their businesses to get feedback on their ideas, their pitches, their prototypes for their designs or concepts or whatnot,” Wil-

WESLEYAN SUMMER CAMP

liams said.

Educators helping out MODA’s fulltime staff with the camps include Thomas Hayes. He has a degree in sustainable urban design, which he brings to the Minecraft camps where campers might collaborate on the design of a green city for the future.

Brenna Valentine, a space enthusiast with experience at Colorado science museums who now works at Emory, runs the Scratch coding camps.

Lakeem Winborne, who has taught in the arts and STEM for years in Atlanta, will lead robotic camps.

And Christy Bardis Petterson, co-owner of the Indie Craft Experience, a craft and vintage market in Atlanta, will lead the slow fashion camp.

Some of the camps include: ■ Outta This World with LEGO (in-person; June 6-10, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.) ■ Scratch Escape Rooms (virtual; June 20-24, 2-4 p.m.) ■ Digital Art Studio (in-person; June 20-24, 1-5 p.m.) ■ Mic Drop! Podcasting 101 (inperson; July 11-15, 9 a.m.-noon) ■ Minecraft - Archaeological Adventures in Pompeii (virtual; July 25-29, 1-5 p.m.) ■ Minecraft Olympics! (virtual; Aug. 1-5, 1-5 p.m.)

For more information on these and other camps and to register, visit www. museumofdesign.org/camps.