As appeared in The Andover Townsman – Setting their 'sites' on the internet by Brian Davidson

February 9th, 2006 by: Ryan

February 9, 2006

By Brian Davidson

What happened to the days when summer camp meant learning how to swim, or build a fire in the woods? Kids today are less frequently taught how to handle snake bites and more often learning how to manage megabytes.

Learning such 21^st century survival skills is the idea at a weeklong camp to be offered at Merrimack College over the summer.

“It’s so awesome to have my own Web site on the Internet,” said 11 year-old Andover resident Michael Horsman, who attended the camp last summer to learnt he basics of Web design and Flash animation.

Merrimack is one of 40 colleges in 17 states and Spain to host summer technology camps run by the California-based company, internalDrive. Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Smith College are the only other Massachusetts locations offered.

“We’re growing by leaps and bounds,” said Karen Thurm Safran, vice president of marketing at the 8-year-old company.

This summer will be the third that the camp comes to Merrimack College, an Michael Horsman is already geared to go.

“I tried it out and now I love it,” he said. “I can’t wait to go back.”

“This time for two weeks,” his mother, Kim, added.

The camp, accepting both day campers and boarders, will come to Merrimack for five weeks this summer, from the first week of July through the first week of August. Among the courses that will be offered are Programming and Robotics, Video Game Creation, Adventures in Gaming and Photoshop, and Digital Video Production.

“The kids use products that are industry standard,” said Thurm Safran. “They use what the professionals use, so it’s a real ego boost and a real achievement.”

More importantly to Kim Horsman, iD Tech Camps is giving her son a jumpstart in an age of increasing technological advancement, setting him up for achievement later on in life.

“If at 11 he can do stuff like [Flash animation], this will definitely help him in a career with computers down the road,” she said.

Open to all kids from 7 to 17 years old, iD Tech Camps keep having fun a priority, claims Thurm Safran. The company recruits a young and energetic staff to provide campers not only with instructors, but role models as well.

“It’s fun for the kids, so they don’t even realize that their learning,” she said.