Staff photo / Bob Coupland Girard first graders Baker DeWitt, 6, left, and Anah Lambert, 5, both of Girard, work together using different materials to make a planet as part of a summer enrichment program earlier this month at Prospect Elementary School in Girard.

GIRARD — With 90-degree temperatures outside, Girard students are staying cool indoors by using water for a four-day science learning camp.

Bill Young, coordinator of the camp and curriculum and support services coordinator for Girard City Schools, said this is the first year for the science learning camp. He led one six years in a row for Austintown schools when he worked there.

“This is my seventh year for the camp. The Austintown students loved it and now the Girard students have the opportunity to also enjoy it,” Young said.

He said 70 students entering grades first to sixth attended the camp at Prospect Elementary School that had various science and math activities, including one themed “Make Waves” with students attending different stations to take part in hands-on learning.

“There is emphasis on science, engineering and math. I am always trying to find enrichment activities for the students,” he said.

He said the Ohio General Assembly awarded the school district $19,000 in scholarships to cover costs for all students to attend since it is usually $250 per student to attend the camp.

For the four days, students made different projects with the guidance of school district teachers who were instructors.

On the final day, students took all their projects home.

Helping the students were college education majors doing internships for the program.

In Make Waves, there was a small pool on a table in which students tested the surf boards they made to see if they would stay afloat.

Ava Russell, 10, a fifth grader, said she used wood planks, duct tape and colored foil to make her surfboard.

She said she liked getting to be creative with her projects.

Eisley Hartson, 11, sixth grade, said she liked the craft activities because they were different from what she had done before.

“I liked that we could make the surfboard our own style,” she said.

Alexis Peiton of Girard, a Youngstown State University sophomore, was the program’s leadership intern.

“I am seeing that being a teacher is what I want to do and what age group I want to work with. I plan to study middle school math and science. I get to work one on one with the students and help them with their creations. I get to see what idea they came up with for their surfboards,” Peiton said.

Nicole Luklan, a program instructor and an intervention specialist for Girard schools in the kindergarten and first grade resource room, said she likes that the students come up with ideas for products they can make and then promote them.

“I like their creativity and the ideas they come up with from the youngest kids to the oldest kids,” Luklan said.

Dugan Paxton, a Title I teacher said, “One of the best things about it is the hands-on learning. The kids like getting messy and learn from any mistakes they made while creating. They made rockets the other day,” Paxton said.

He said the rockets were tested and were launched down the hallway one day.

He said the students use art skills and record data such as how far their rocket went in the hallway.

“This camp covers all the bases with science, math and technology,” Paxton said.

Addalynn Perrotta, 9, fourth grade, who attended the camp with her younger brother, Thomas Perotta, 7, second grade, said she likes the different activities she gets to take part in at the camp. This is her first year in the camp.

Young said summer enrichment is important to keep children learning when they are not in school.

He said he wanted students to attend a learning camp because of its hands-on STEM activities and real-world problem-solving. “Students have a great time inventing, learning and testing solutions to problems, and get to feel like real entrepreneurs,” Young said.