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St. James school children enjoy, learn in summer science camps

Posted on: Thursday, 17 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

LUTCHER - Some school children might think learning about science is not ideal summertime fun, but teachers in the St. James Parish school system have developed a summer science program that has attracted 1,700 students to the classes.

"Our numbers increase each day as the word gets around," said Kathleen DeRoche, site coordinator for the Great River Camp at Lutcher High School.

"They like it because it's learning for enjoyment. There are no tests and no pressure," DeRoche said.

"I liked making the worm farms," Sarah Kramer, 6, one of the summer scholars, said.

Another, Tyler Provensano, 10, said he likes "all the cool science projects we do."

Provensano, who is attending his third River Camp, added, "Science is my favorite subject in school."

The day camp involves hands-on environmental science lessons, along with music, art, computers, sports and field trips.

Students take water samples from rivers and waterways and test them for nitrates and phosphates. They make water filters and compete to find the filter that makes the clearest water. They look at how deltas and estuaries are formed and the effects of dams and levees.

The eight-day program is available free of charge to all St. James Parish public school students from 5 to 13 years of age.

The School Board and the parish government help to sponsor the camp.

A $125,000 grant from the state Department of Environmental Quality covers the bulk of the materials as well as the salaries for the 65 teachers, 70 high school students and eight college students who staff the four campsites.

Sixty-five teachers participated in a two-day planning session during January to map out the camp curriculum.

DeRoche said that the science lessons taught during camp correspond to classroom science curriculums, but are often introduced at camp years ahead of grade level.

Acids and bases, for example, are a part of the school district's fifth-grade science curriculum. But at River Camp, all age groups, even the 5-year-olds, have the chance to experiment with acids and bases.

The Great River Camp is just one of several innovative programs designed to improve education - and test scores - in St. James schools, said Elvis Cavalier, director of school and community programs.

This is Cavalier's fourth year as head of the Great River Camp program, and he has just completed his first year as director of the school system's new Science and Math Academy.

"As a district, our scores are definitely up," Cavalier said. "Can we credit that to River Camp? We are certain that it has a positive effect, but we haven't specifically tracked those students' scores."

Cavalier said administrators did track the scores of the 120 students who attended the Science and Math Academy.

He said that the scores of some of those students had skyrocketed; rising by as much as 20 points. The academy will more than double in size this fall, with 288 students enrolled.

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