Rockdale Citizen

CONYERS — Nearly 200 students are expected at the Rockdale Career Academy next week for the annual Enrichment Camp.

Just as last summer, two separate camps will run the same week — one in a morning camp and one in an afternoon camp. They are scheduled from 7:45 to 11:45 a.m. Monday through Thursday and 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

Middle school students can participate in three courses, and elementary students are offered five courses with three running during the morning session and afternoon due to student demand, according to Alex Alvarez, academic rigor coordinator at Rockdale County Public Schools.

RCPS invited 2,525 students to this summer’s camps, including more than 1,550 elementary students and more than 950 middle-schoolers. Students in second through eighth grades were invited if they had demonstrated a mastery of standards by earning a 3 or 4 on their standards-based report cards.

Enrollment numbers for the camp, which are offered during intersession breaks, have been down since the fall of 2011 because the program, which was once free, now charges a $50 fee to cover expenses.

Alvarez said numbers are growing consistently since implementing the fee. He noted that the camp served 125 students with five classes in the fall, 151 in six classes during the winter camp and at least 180 students are signed up for this summer.

“I believe that both the level of creativity and the high quality opportunities our RCPS teachers have consistently offered to RCPS students during Enrichment Camp have led to the increased student participation,” Alvarez said.

Classes for second and third grades include “Viva Italia” to celebrate Italian culture through food and the arts, “Georgia on My Mind” to learn about the different regions of Georgia through games and crafts and “Soaring with S.T.E.M.” to explore science, technology, engineering and math. Fourth and fifth grades can study “Animated Imagination” to study basic animation and “Who Dunnit?” to solve a mystery using forensic science.

Middle school students can take classes in “Cooking Up Culture” to learn more about exotic foods from around the world; “Self-Publishing Young Authors” to get their creative juices flowing and “Arts, Culture and Culinary Delights” to explore countries and continents around the world through food and art.