Offering more than just the typical summer camp experience, the new College of the Canyons Community Education Junior High Summer Institute provides parents with a reliable day care option, while presenting students with a series of stimulating hands-on activities dedicated to highlighting possible career paths.

Designed for incoming seventh and eighth-graders, the Junior High School Summer Institute allows students the option of selecting from a group of fun and innovative curriculum tracks -- designed and taught primarily by College of the Canyons faculty members -- in the areas of film, fine arts, photography, science and theatre.

“We created the Summer Institute with two things in mind,” said Gina Bogna, director of community education at COC. “To expose young minds to possibilities that may encourage a career path, and to provide an alternative to the traditional day-care summer camp.”

With no homework and no grades, students will be free to focus on their daily experiences and decide what subject areas interest them most. “I essentially asked our faculty to create curriculum they’ve always wanted to teach, but couldn’t because it wasn’t in their course outline,” Bogna said. “So the curriculum offered here will contain very little theory and instead consist of primarily hands-on activities.”

Parents and students interested in attending can plan on a three-week immersion experience in all things fun, during which instructors will expose students to a specific area of expertise in an exciting and age appropriate manner, Bogna said. In addition, each curriculum track will include a specific career component, allowing students to learn how the class or project they are working on may lead to a future job or career path.

The College of the Canyons Junior High Summer Institute will run Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. from June 16, 2008 through July 3, 2008, and will consist of three one-week sessions:

• Session One: June 16 – July 3, at a cost of $225.

• Session Two: June 23 – June 27, at a cost of $225.

• Session Three: June 30 — July 3, at a cost of $180.

Parents have the choice of enrolling their student for one curriculum track for the entire three-week period, or a different track for each weekly session. However students must sign up for all three weeks in order to register for the theatre track.

For parents and students wishing to extend the day, a free bonus hour from 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. -- featuring concepts from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” and other career related material facilitated by Junior Achievement -- is also available.

With a unique approach that allows volunteer community members to share their life experiences with students, Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy.

“I’m really very excited about the institute; nothing like this is available for older adolescent children in this valley,” said Bogna. “I believe once word gets out about the program, the seats will fill quickly. We are set up to serve 100 students each week, so parents wanting their kids to participate should register now to secure a spot.”

Look for the College of the Canyons Community Education summer schedule in your mailbox beginning this week.

For registration information about the College of the Canyons Community Education Junior High Summer Institute, or to view a complete schedule for each week and track, please visit www.canyons.edu/communityed, or call (661) 362-3300.

Online registration is not available for the Junior High Summer Institute sessions due to the necessary registration forms and parent signatures.

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