Summer camp offers local children unique experiences
Dante Tapia usually spends his summer days hanging out at the Boys & Girls Club.
This year, the 12-year-old Georgetown middle-schooler joined a group of peers and built wooden boats – which they launched into the Lewes-Rehoboth Canal Aug. 11.
“Honestly, I haven't ever built a boat,” the young man said. “It was a new experience.”
That new opportunity was provided by SummerCollab, a nonprofit venture launched about six years ago in Wilmington with the goal of providing educational summer activities for low-income children.
This year marked the first time the program came to Sussex County, said SummerCollab founder Catherine Lindroth.
Students on summer break who have no learning opportunities tend to lose ground, Lindroth said. Through SummerCollab, kids get to participate in sports, coding, music, dance and other learning opportunities - even building boats and learning about local history.
More than 20 Sussex County middle-school students participated in the two-week SummerCollab pilot program, which formed a partnership with the Lewes Historical Society. It also marked a first for the society's wooden boat program, said Marcos Salaverria.
“This is the first year we're working with an all-kids group,” said the Lewes Historical Society educational director. The wooden boat program usually provides boat-building kits for adults or families, and Salaverria admitted he wasn't quite sure how it would turn out with a group of pre-teens.
“They surprised us,” he said, as he admired the boats staying afloat in the water. He said it took each team about 21 hours to complete each boat, which they now get to keep.
“These kids soaked everything in,” he said, adding that some students now know how to properly use a hammer, drill and boat oar. “They were like sponges.”
Lindroth said she plans to bring the program back to Sussex, and hopes to open it up to all local children.
“There are not enough summer programs for any middle-school kids in Sussex County,” she said. “We have a vision to plan out a massive camp to make sure middle-school kids, not just low-income kids, have these incredible experiences. It's our responsibility to give them these opportunities.”
Lindroth said the program, which expanded to Sussex County in Lewes and Sussex Tech High School this summer, is looking for donations and volunteers to ramp up its southern Delaware programs. For more, go to summercollab.org.
