Goodbye Summer 2010

We really had a great time this summer and we are now saying goodbye to our friends old and new. We hope you had a wonderful time, too, and will be back next year.
Until then dive into the rest of your summer and have a great school year!

Bye from the CITs

The Biggest Winner 7-8-10

Today in the "Biggest Winner', the students dwell upon the history of Karaoke and where its originates from. Four lucky participants get to play the PlayStation2 game Karaoke Revolution.
Later, they discuss ways to maximize their profits as a music store seller. And talk about what they think it would take to become popular music artists.

Art Class, African Drumming and the Electric Fence

In addition to our faculty who lead specials, we also have guests who teach art, nutrition and African drumming. To the right is our Art Director, Brenda Singletary working with 2 campers and below is James Tyler instructing guys on drumming.

Today in team building we did the "electric fence" team challenge and we will try to post a picture of that later. The challenge is to work together as a team to get everyone from one side of the "electric fence" (a jump rope strung across 2 chairs) to the other side without touching the fence. It was hard and we tried our best. See you tomorrow.

Champion Week starts July 6 2010

Welcome back Campers and Families! Hope you all had a wonderful fun filled 4th of July and are glad to see everyone back at Challenge & Champions for the beginning of our Final Week-The Challenger Week! The Campers had a unique opportunity today to go on our "campus immersion", exploring the Emory Campus and sitting in on a real college class. They got to use 'clickers' (electronic devices) to answer questions in a class on human diseases (bacteria and viral types) and how they are transmitted. It was taught by the Senior Vice Provost of the University whose name is Dr. J. Lynn Zimmerman. Dr. Z. is also a biologist. They then participated in a question and answer session on college readiness and high school preparation held by the Admissions Office led by Tim Fields. After that they got a chance to eat in the campus cafeteria, where they got to eat as much as their hearts and stomachs desired! With lunch done they caught the shuttle back to the SAAC.

This afternoon began Field Day activities like Hockey, the 400 yard dash, a 4x100 yard relay and Long Jump. Those were then followed by a giant group game of Ultimate Tag. We practiced for the Friday Graduation at the Celebration of Learning before getting a chance to jump in the pool and cool off from the hot and fun-filled day.

Please remember to RSVP to Ms. Jonetta James in the C&C main office to let her know about how many from your family and friends will be attending the final Celebration of Learning this Friday. You can call her at 404-727-3270 or email her at her email address.

It will be from 1:45 to 4:00 PM. The parking deck will be open at 1:30. Remember, no late pick up this Friday.  We will be closing for the summer at 4:00 PM that day.

Words in Action 7-2-10

Today in "Words in Action" the students debate whether reading the book of a movie or watching the movie of a book is better and which one will give you a better understanding.
As the debate begins, both sides go back and forth engaging in a ping-pong like match using strong statements and reasons to support their arguments.

What's happening on Thursday July 1

Happy First Day of July everyone!

In "The Biggest Winner" with Jamie Gabel, the students worked in groups to make a family budget with costs including rent, utilities, food etc.
Afterwards, they presented a poster that showed their monthly income, budget in percentage, things they would buy to sustain a normal living and the amount of money left over.

In Sam's class everyone has been studying organic foods and contaminants.

We are enjoying the little cooler weather this last few days.

Here you can see Norma Chinnery making sandwiches in the SAAC kitchen in the morning. Norma works in the Division of Educational Studies. Today the director, Bob Jensen and the secretary Simone Hedrington helped with lunch making. Paul Kowalcyzk and Linnea McCalla are in the background in the picture with Norma.

Tomorrow we will have chicken wraps with salsa and ranch dressing and will have peaches for dessert.

Today we had visitors from the National Summer Learning Association come for a site visit. They were Erin Ulery and Ashley Stewart.

A Volunteer's Perspective

My name is Andrew McMerty.  I have volunteered for Challenge and Champions.  Yesterday I sat in Ms. Jennifer's class.  At the beginning of the class the students, Ms. Jennifer, and I formed a "human" circle.    We began to stomp our feet and clap our hands to the beat of the song, We Will Rock You.  We incorporated our own lyrics which were: We are, we are...special!  Then, one by one, we sang out the name of each person's name in the circle, replacing "we" with their name.  For example, when it was my turn, we sang out: Andrew, Andrew is special!

"Day 7"

Today is the second day of the Challenger week. Today some of the campers are starting African drumming. This class is being taught by Mr. Sam Spence and a special guest who is helping with the class. They other specials that we have today include nutrition, jewelry making, cooking, dance, and art.  In Nutrition, campers learned that they had to exercise for 2 minutes to burn off one Hershey Kiss.

Yesterday for lunch had tortilla wraps. Today we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, ham and cheese or turkey sandwiches. Tomorrow we will have chicken caesar salad and carrots.

Today we had TWO Daily Challenge Winners....we could not pick between two excellent entries so Donte Richardson and Dennis La'Poole both won.

 Here's a picture of Ms. Jennifer in Words in Action

discussing the importance of character use in movies compared to books.

Day 6: "Team Builder Challenge"

              Today is the first day of the Challenger week, and instead of doing speacials we did a Team Builder Challenge. The name of this activity was "Hot Chocolate". The campers are split up into four teams and are given about 10  paper plates. Each team has to walk across the plates to the other side of the "cup", but they can not step into the "hot chocolate" and someone must always be touching the plates or they will be taken away. This activity builds teamwork and freindship while they are also competing against the other campers. The winners of this competition were the campers in Coach Todd's group.

Ending of Week 1-The Explorer Week

The week ended on a high note with the first Celebration of Learning. We got to hear from teachers about what was going on in each class and there was a shout out to a lot of individual campers on their accomplishments. We had lots of balloons, beach music and decorations, and some candy.
The winners for the camper of the week this week were Kassie Taylor, Jonathan Bollingslea, and Rebecca Holliman. They each earned a $15 gift card to Barnes and Noble.

See you on Monday!

Impact on the Planet 6-25-10

Today in Impact on the Planet with Sam Spence, the students listened to recordings of crane workers who were on duty when the oil rig blowout in the Gulf of Mexico occurred.
Then the students collaborated and revised their plans from the previous day-they were working on how to fix the crack in the seal.
Later, Sam plays a video that showed which beaches and animal species are being affected by the oil spill.

CIT Leadership Training and a great day for campers

Today is day 4 and lots of activities are keeping us busy. Today in Specials David showed how to make brownies, Jennnifer's jewelry class made bracelets and in Art campers were working on painting and pastels. Drumming begins next week. Dr. Karen got to see the dancers do a hip hop routine which she said was really good. We had a new special today that will run through the rest of C&C. Ms. Laura from the School of Public Health is working with the campers who sign up for nutrition. In that class they learned about fast food and what is in it.

After lunch the CITs (Counselors in Training) had some leadership training with Ms. Jamie who worked with them on good morale, team building and communication. The topics included personal relationships, problem solving and taking on responsibility.

Today's daily Challenge winner was Megha Desai. She had the best answer to the Challenge "Find out from the counselors what a college major is and why it is important." Congratulations Megha!

Today's Challenge is to write tomorrow morning about a place campers would like to visit and why.

                                Ms. Jamie teaching about central tendency in The Biggest Winner.

Yum, Getting lunch in the lunch buffet. You can see CITs, from the right to left, Paul Kowalczyk, Marcus Miller and Langston Daniels. In the back are PE teachers Todd Posey (on the left with the red hat) and Dave Evans.

Remember that the Celebration of Learning for week 1 (the Explorer Week) will be tomorrow from 3:00-4:00 as we celebrate all that was accomplished this week. Come if you can. We will be in the same room as Sunday's orientation (room 211) in the SAAC. Also, there is NO LATE PICK UP tomorrow. We close on Fridays at 4 PM.

Day 3 is here!

     Today we had our birthday celebration for the campers who have their birthdays in June, July, August, and September. In the morning Mr. David took his classes on a field trip to explore the Carlos Museum and the campers loved it!

     Tomorrow the Nutrition special is starting up which will show campers how to eat healthier and live a better lifestyle. Why should we not start eating healthy at a young age? It will serve you well for the rest of your life.

       Today our weekly  C&C Newsletter comes out and we have hope that you receive it by either e-mail or by the flyer that your camper will bring home. If you have not recieved the newsletter please let us know and we will be happy to forward the e-mail to you or to pass an extra copy to your camper.

      Finally we would like to congratulate Danni Fitzpatrick for winning the Daily Challenge. We asked campers to meet three new people and  learn something new about them, Danni went above and beyond when it came to meeting new people and that is the kind of attitude we like at C&C! Today's Daily Challenge is to ask  the counselors what their college major is and why having a college major is important.

Mr. David's class visting the Michael C. Carlos Museum

Day 2 and the SunSmart Team

Today we had a really good day. At snack the medical students from the dermatology department came by to do a skit on sun protection. We learned to slip on a shirt, slap on a hat, slop on some sunscreen and wrap on some sun glasses.

From left to right are: Vialla Hartfield-Mendez (Office of University Community Partnerships at Emory), Seema Kini, Lauren Henricksen (OUCP), Molly Spratt, and Gerardo Marrazzo (Dermatology Medical Students).

They then gave us these bracelets that they made with UV sensitive beads that turn colors in the sun. Wow, they are great.

Today we also started our learning strategies and study skills classes and had our first specials. People got to sign up for specials yesterday and they were art class, dance, jewelry making, African drumming, and cooking. We signed up at lunch today for tomorrow's specials.

Everyone is loving the pool and all the activities! Oh, and by the way, we were featured on the main home page of Emory University so if you want to check it out, you can see the rotating pictures at http://www.emory.edu/ There are 2 at the top and one at the bottom left corner.

See you tomorrow!

Meeting the MATs

Hi, well it's almost time for swimming and PE classes are going well.  Everyone signed up for specials at lunch today for tomorrow so we will be doing dance, art, cooking, jewelry making and drumming.

Today's daily Challenge was for campers to get to learn something about each of their teachers.

Here's a picture of Dr. Karen introducing the Master of Arts in Teaching students to the campers today.

Welcome Day 1

This morning we had a good start with the campers! Everyone has their shirt on and we are proud to be wearing them. We did team building before academic classes. We are bonding and becoming friends.

Earth Day is coming

Hi all, Hope you had a wonderful spring break! The trees are popping out with leaves and the local flowers look great! Earth Day is coming up soon and the 40th anniversary begins this Saturday.

Click here to learn more about Earth Day. It's your planet. Make it your home!

Counselors in Training will be announced on Monday. See you then!

Earth Hour-Take Care of our Planet

This week I wanted to alert you to the Earth Hour coming up on March 27th. According to their website 
"Earth Hour 2010 will continue to be a global call to action to every individual, every business and every community. A call to stand up, to show leadership and be responsible for our future."

"In 2009 hundreds of millions of people around the world showed their support by turning off their lights for one hour."

So, turn out your lights this Saturday, save some energy and enjoy an evening activity that is not screen time. Of course, be safe as you show your support for the earth we all enjoy!

You can learn more at Earth Hour and make your own virtual lantern by watching the video

The Challenge

This week, for all of you who are reading, I'd like to provide you with a challenge. I'll get to the actual challenge in a minute but first want to explain a bit more about the Challenges in the program.

For those of you who have been campers you know that each day starts with The Daily Challenge. It's a question or a prompt that is supposed to get you thinking. We have challenges on personal goals, on your opinions on daily life, on friendship, learning more about school and college and so forth. Everyone who writes a good answer to The Daily Challenge is entered into a drawing to win a prize. We award $10 gift cards to Barnes and Noble each day.

Today I leave you with this week's Challenge. If you read this and send your answer  by March 24th to info@ChallengeAndChampions.org, I will pick the best answer and you will receive a $10 gift card to Barnes and Noble.



Please write to me at the email above about leadership and answer the following:

What are the qualities that you think makes an outstanding leader? Is they the same for leaders in "the arts" as in politics, or education, or in a business or in any other particular group? Why?

Good luck!

Dr. Karen Falkenberg

New Photos on the website

Hi, we have been getting lots of interest and applications and I hope that you are beginning to make your spring plans if you haven't already. We are continuing to update the website so check it early next week for more photos. We did put up a slideshow for your enjoyment. See if you can find it!

Time to apply

Hi, we want to be sure you know how to apply. Get your application on the admission page of the website. Fill it out with your parents help. You will need to get a letter of recommendation and complete a short writing sample. Send it in to the address on the application.

Here's a picture of one of the librarians working with the campers in the main college library last year. We love to use the campus resources.

Becoming a CIT

If you were a camper, you can apply to be a counselor in training. You can find the application on the website's CIT page.

Applications are due in the office by April 1.

Welcome to Spring 2010

We are jumping into action for our 7th summer season. Recruiting is open and we hope you will apply and pass this information on to your friends!