It’s rarely business as usual for the Massapequa School District’s Summer Fine Arts camp. This year, the program added several new courses, saw increased participation and embraced more digital tools.
Jessica Wyman, coordinator of the five-week camp, said there were 576 registrants this year along with 30 teachers, 39 student assistants and two college assistants. There were 60 one- and two-week course offerings in music, theater and visual arts. The program, which runs July 7-Aug. 8 at Massapequa High School, is held in partnership with Nassau BOCES.
“It’s been fantastic,” Ms. Wyman said. “We have a lot of very talented students across the board and what’s cool is to watch their growth across only a few days.”
Many of the traditional courses are back such as beginner and intermediate band and orchestra lessons, musical theater workshops, and art classes in drawing, painting, sculpture and mixed media. A Young Artist Explorers camp returned for the second year, giving younger elementary students a chance to learn different techniques while emulating the work of noted artists like Keith Haring and Wassily Kandinsky.
In a new summer dance camp, students learned various dance styles and techniques, and were introduced to multiple music genres. Music Theory for All was also added this year, in which students explored the structure and analysis of music creation, then made their own 16-measure solo pieces.
Rising seventh grader Niall MacLeod, who is a percussionist in the band, enrolled in Music Theory along with three other courses this summer – Introduction to Improvisation, Jazz Band and Rock Band.
“I was looking at all of the camps and they were all really interesting, so I wanted to do as many as I could,” Niall said. “I really like doing anything with music and learning new things that make me a better musician.”
Ninth grader Loris Chen took the Ceramic Glazing Techniques class, during which she made projects such as bowls, mugs, plates and vases.
“It was interesting and I’ve never done anything like this,” she said. “Seeing the results is always so cool.”
Paul Leone, the ceramics class teacher, said that students are able to complete very in-depth projects in the course, which meets three hours a day for a week. After sculpting, their pieces are placed in a kiln overnight and ready for glazing the next day.
In addition to traditional art classes, there are several technology focused classes. In the new Canva Digital Art course, students designed board games and graphic novels from scratch. They learned how to overlap layers, add graphics and images and create their own characters. The Fashion Design course is now done entirely on iPads, which students designing clothing for models on ProCreate.
Ms. Wyman said that many of the ideas for new courses come from the district’s art and music teachers. She said they are encouraged to bring ideas for topics that aren’t typically covered during the school year.
“Most of our camps are because the people teaching them are passionate about that subject or medium,” she said.
Each music and theater camp ends with a performance for families, while every art class culminates with an exhibit.
Photo courtesy of the Massapequa School District
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