POWERING UP THIS

DeKalb’s Camp Power balances fun, games, learning for University Village youth

By MEGANN HORSTEAD mhorstead@shawmedia.com

DeKALB – It’s not all fun and games at one local summer camp for youth in DeKalb.

At Camp Power, a program spearheaded by the Kishwaukee Family YMCA, kids are empowered to grow their abilities.

With almost a decade of camp programming under their belts, staff say the 10-week community summer program continues to encourage area youth in DeKalb’s University Village to have fun, work hard and keep learning.

“We’re trying to give them opportunities that they wouldn’t normally have,” Kishwaukee Family YMCA CEO Brian Bickner said. “We’re looking at trying to get some positive impacts out of that area. We want to build some positive relationships between them and the police department. We want to make sure that they’ve got some STEM programming, education and literacy during the summer. Kids during the summer they definitely have a summer learning loss, so we definitely want to give these kids an opportunity to continue learning and hopefully not fall behind.”

Some of the interactive activities offered at Camp Power include field trips, football, sack races and STEM programming.

Each day, participants in the summer program can expect to eat lunch on site, which Bickner said is vital for growing young children.

“We want to make sure they get nutritious lunches during the summer,” Bickner said. “Lot of times, these kids are getting lunches at school, but they don’t have them during the summer. So, we want to make sure they’re getting a nutritious lunch during the summer.”

Camp Power first got its start in 2014. The summer program has evolved a little bit since then, Bickner said. The free summer camp is available to residents of DeKalb’s University Village. Other DeKalb-area partners also provide features for camp-goers, Bickner said: Northern Illinois Food Bank provides