Summer day camp thriving at Casey

CAMP CASEY South Korea -- If you have kids in elementary school and want to give them a chance to attend summer day camp, Area I's Camp Adventure offers games, field trips and other fun, while also helping youngsters learn how to get along with others and follow rules.

It's held Monday through Friday at Camp Casey's School Age Center, bldg. 2475. Costs range from $40 - $110 per week, on a sliding scale based on overall family income.

Camp Adventure is open to Area I youngsters in first through fifth grades, and allows parents to register their kids for one week at a time.

That way, parents can choose which sessions to send their children to, and don't have to pay for weeks they may be on vacation or otherwise unable to have their children attend.

Each week's schedule includes arts-and-crafts, a library visit and reading session, swimming and playground activities, a Wednesday field trip to such places as an amusement park, museum, or zoo.

"Camp is fun, going to the pool, going on all the field trips," said 10-year old Senora Fontenot. "But, the funnest part is hanging out with all my friends."

The counselors are college students drawn from a variety of schools, taking part in the Camp Adventure Youth Services, run by the University of Northern Iowa. The program holds the camps in various countries, and on U.S. military installations overseas. They get college credit, room and board for their work as summer counselors.

The Area I youngsters also get weekly visits from a counselor with the Army's Military and Family Life Consultant program. Those sessions are geared to helping foster emotional well-being.

One recent session, for example, involved a game called "emotional bingo."

Each child got a bingo-style card with the names of 24 emotions --"jealous" "delighted" "bored" "loving" for example. Each then got a chance to tell of his or her experiences with one or more of those emotions.

"Each week we have different themes," said Gia Murtucci, a Camp Adventure counselor who graduated from the California State University, Chico, with a degree in education.

"We did Wizard of Oz one week, an ocean theme, next week we'll do Forty-Niners-Gold Rush theme," she said.

"We really work with expanding creativity and specifically getting kids to socialize," said Murtucci. "We work on behavioral management skills and learning how to cooperate and follow the rules."

Camp Adventure is also designed to keep the children active and away from video games, she said.

To register children or for more information, call Area I Child, Youth and School Services at 730-3628 or 732-3468.