What are the summer programs all about?

Middle School Camp
Middle school camp is for students in TRIO Talent Search that have just finished their seventh or eighth grade year. We do many things at camp, such as play-shops, games, and many activities, including a field trip to do a deed for others by offering our volunteer services.

Last Summers Camp
The TRIO Talent Search staff decides on a theme to guide each summers adventures. The themes are very creative and have great meanings. This past summer the theme was "BE A VOICE NOT AN ECHO!".

Workshops are developed each summer so that students can learn about themselves and make plans for their future. Last summer they learned how to be leaders. Activities focused around teamwork and problem solving. Workshop activities are guided by the theme for camp. In the workshops this past summer students wrote about people who they thought were voices and not echoes. Students learned about what it takes to become a voice in one's community and how important it is to speak out and not just be an echo of others. They learned that actions and accomplishments can be a person's voice, as well. Of course, they did more things but those were some of the most important learning goals and activities.

Mostly, we like to have fun during the summer while we learn. We usually call our workshops play-shops!

Above are some students happily reflecting upon their accomplishment of building towers out of straws. As you can see they did quite a nice job and learned a lot about working as a team.

Then of course there is a whole lot more to TRIO Talent Search summer camp than just the workshops. There is all of the fun activities that the summer staff plans for each evening. In the past there has been talent shows, and pool parties. The best experience that is offered other than the workshops is definitely the field trip. Each camp there is a field trip where the students get to go out into a community and make a real difference. One thing that the first week of camp got to do last year was go to Somerset, and help clean up an area of the lake, but first we got to meet with Congressman Harold Rogers, and he talked about how important what we were about to do was to the community. The students as well as staff really enjoyed the discussion with Mr. Rogers, and they got to meet with someone that is a prime example of a voice for the community.

Above are some TRIO Talent Search students and staff at the Center for Rural Development in Somerset waiting to talk with Congressman Harold Rogers. Below is a picture from Burnside Island State Park where we went to have pizza and swim to finish off the day.

The second week of camp went to Lexington and provided service in different areas. We split up into about five different groups, and went to day cares, adult facilities, and other areas where our volunteer services could be used. After the service was done we went to Jacobson Park, had pizza for lunch and played around for a while.

Of course we had plenty of time over the week to just goof off, and have some fun, below are some pictures of students doing just that.

Mystery Trip
Another great aspect of TRIO Talent Search is the annual Mystery Trip. The mystery trip is for finishing freshmen. What the staff does is pick a place to go to, somewhere different each year, and they don't tell the students where they are going until they are almost there. This trip is a three day adventure. It gives the students some time to learn, relax, but mainly have fun. Last summer the freshmen went to Cherokee, North Carolina, as well as spent some time in Tennessee. They visited Western Carolina University, and a few other colleges in the area. They were able to meet up with an Upward Bound Math and Science program at WCU. One fun thing that they did was tubing, they tubed down Deep Creek, and had a blast.

Below students are happily in the water enjoying the tubing experience.

They also did fun stuff like just hanging out, having a picnic lunch, and some team building activities. There was of course plenty of time to just hang out. All in all the trip was quite a success, in fact the worst part of the trip was riding on the bus everywhere, it was quite a tiring experience.

The Mystery Trip and the Middle school camp are just two of the summer opportunities for TRIO Talent Search students. Others are Junior and Senior camp, and the sixth grade field trip.

Junior and Senior Camp
Every summer ETS has a camp for the juniors and seniors. They come up to Berea for a week and get an idea of what the college life is like. Here are some photos from last summers camp.

Sixth Grade Field Trip
Every summer the sixth grade TRIO Talent Search students come up to Berea for a nice field trip. Last summer they went to a Reds game, and had pizza at a local park, along with games and fun.