iD News and Blog

San Francisco Chronicle

As appeared in San Francisco Chronicle

April 29, 2007

SETTING UP SUMMER CAMP

By Delfin Vigil

School is almost out. Everything on television is getting, like, totally boring. And marshmallow prices are starting to skyrocket.

All that can only mean one thing: Summer camp season is upon us.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean summer camp itself can be defined as one thing. These days, finding the right summer camp for you and your kid can be like trying to agree on a box of cereal.

Let’s see: We’ve got sports camp, space camp, computer camp, diet camp, magic camp, rock star camp, art camp, travel camp, Spanish camp, Christian camp. There’s even Gandhi Camp in (surprise!) West Marin County.

Good grief! Whatever happened to good ol’ summer camp, Charlie Brown?

Of the approximate 11 million campers across the country, 10 million are children and 1 million are adults, according to Allison MacMunn, a public relations specialist with the American Camp Association. The nearly 100-year-old nonprofit group keeps tabs on camps of all kinds. One of the clearest changes in camp culture noted by the association is a 215 percent increase in family, adult and senior camps in the past 15 years.

More than likely, your kid won’t get as excited about a weekend bingo binge as Grandma will. And for many, getting a break from parents or kids can be the inspiration for seeking out a camp.

“The sense of leaving your neighborhood and going somewhere different where you have to learn new things and become part of another community is the whole point of going to a summer camp,” says Ann Woods, who opened Roughing It Day Camp with her husband, Hobie, in Lafayette 35 years ago.

The Woodses have watched the camp grow from about a dozen kids from just down the street to more than 200 from across the Bay Area last summer. With horseback riding, swimming and canoeing, Roughing It is a traditional and all-outdoor coed day camp headquartered at the Lafayette Reservoir.

The Woodses remember a time when other kids would be fishing and camping by themselves at the reservoir. Those days are gone.

“Nowadays, there are a lot more of what we call helicopter parents. They’re hovering over their kids trying to make everything perfect. But kids don’t learn from only having successes,” says Ann Woods, who remembers when parents would drop their kids off then head for tennis and two-martini lunches before even thinking of checking in.

While the Woodses try to emphasize a child’s need to work on being independent, they also embrace the technology to allow parents to keep in communication. That means photos that usually didn’t show up until Christmas are on the Web site by the end of the week. Trail guides use Nextel walkie-talkies, and the emergency cell phone ringers are never on silent.

It also means that the cool stoner dude who was a counselor at your summer camp back in the ’70s probably wouldn’t be able to get the same gig today. That is, at an accredited camp.

“Parents often assume that all summer camps are licensed to run their business and are monitored for safety in some way,” says David Hughes, who, with his brother Jeremy, started Camp Doodles in Mill Valley six years ago after they became frustrated as counselors dealing with the safety shortcomings at another public camp operation. “I know from personal experience if there is no system, if no one is watching, then the attitude is ‘Who cares?’ ”

The owners of Camp Doodles swear they care.

To prove it, they (along with Roughing It and all the other camps mentioned in this story) are among only 25 percent of American summer camps that voluntarily applied for and passed the camp association’s rigid accreditation process.

In order to be licensed by the association, each camp must meet as many as 300 health and safety standards that go “way above and beyond most state regulations,” MacMunn says.

“That means we have to make sure fingerprints of all employees are verified for background checks, food is stored at proper temperatures, bathroom facilities are inspected,” says Hughes, whose field-trip safety checklist for Camp Doodles is long enough to rival “War and Peace.” “You name it, we’ll have thought of it. And we have a license to prove it.”

Although the accreditation percentage is still relatively low, the level of professionalism in camps is on the rise, according to Don Whipple, who runs Camp Unique out of Portola Valley.

“It used to be, if you were a kid and wanted to have fun, you ran home from school, dropped your books, and went out and played,” says Whipple, who also runs rustic overnight camps in the Lake Tahoe area as well as day play in the South Bay. “But now there’s more of a fear factor. Who else will be there? Is the park safe? Can I reach my child?”

Camps are increasingly aware that in order to stay in business and build a good reputation, they have to answer those questions for parents quickly. To comply, most accredited camps hire counselors who have backgrounds in children’s education or psychology and who really want to be there for the right reasons.

Getting to watch a child’s confidence grow is the reason Camp Doodles counselor Veronica Cowen does what she does.

“One year we had this little girl about 6 years old who was extremely shy,” Cowen says. “She had been seeing a speech therapist and was really self-conscious about it. After a little bit of playing, a little bit of art and a little time, she was up on a stage doing skits and singing songs. Her enunciation was 100 times better by the end of the summer, and her speech therapist said they had never seen so much growth in such a short period of time.”

Similar results were found over at Quest Camp in Danville, where Robert Field hosts a day camp specifically for children with low self-esteem and problems with social skills.

“We work with kids who are especially anxious and have little confidence. We help the kid who quits playing a game because they hate losing, for example,” says Field, who will be celebrating Quest Camp’s 17th summer this year. “We had three middle-school-age kids with Asperger’s whose parents say they just don’t relate socially and never had any friends at school. After a few summers together at camp, they all three got together and started to hang out on their own. What’d they do? They worked together on building a nuclear submarine, of course. Sounds unusual, but they found a way to relate and do something they enjoy.”

Tech Camp

“First of all, it’s not a geek camp,” says Karen Thurm, vice president of iD Tech Camps — the Silicon Valley computer and technology summer camp going on its ninth year. “People make the mistake of thinking their child wouldn’t be interested in this type of camp. But the fact is we make it fun. And all kids love to have fun.”

With several locations, including Stanford University and UC Santa Cruz, iD Tech Camps offer kids courses in everything from Web site building to 3-D animation to plain old playing Frisbee and soccer in the sun.

“All the kids come away from our camp with a new technological skill,” says Thurm, who emphasized that the campers get to use the most advanced and updated software and hardware programs from nearby companies like Apple and Google. “It’s not like they come in and play video games. But they might come in and make their own video games. These kids end up going back to regular schools mentoring other children and sometimes even teachers on technology. That can’t help but blossom a child’s self-esteem.”

While specialty camps like iD Tech Camp can go all out with computers and technology, traditional camps like Prime Time Kids’ Camp in Burlingame are trying to find a balance.

“We in the camp industry call this new generation the Millennials,” says Prime Time’s director Guillermo Macalpin, who just returned from a national camp association conference in Texas that focused on the issue. “We understand that these are some very computer and technologically savvy kids. They have that need to be text messaging and building their MySpace pages. Keeping up with them can be a challenge.”

By adding cool science experiments, videotaping drama classes or having a former San Francisco Giant come by for tips in the batting cage, summer camps like Prime Time are learning to keep up with the Millennials.

“It doesn’t matter what century it is, the bottom line is that kids just want to have fun.”

E-mail Delfin Vigil at dvigil@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page PK – 18 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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Tags: UC Berkeley Computer News Articles
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Teen game developers get shot at besting #1 gamer in the world

Hello iD Nation,

We’re counting down the days until camp.  We actually start summer computer camp the first week in June at UT Austin, and then rollout our other sites every week from that point.  Camp is the best time of year!  We’ve got some pretty cool announcements that follow below, and a cool story about one of our campers to go along with it:

While other students spend their summers watching TV, Jimmy McChristy spends his time creating video games and learning technical skills at summer computer camps.

Jimmy McChristy

This past summer, Jimmy, 16-years-old, attended our intensive 3-week game development program called the iD Gaming Academy. During the program, teens like Jimmy used powerful industry-standard applications like Maya® to learn the basics of 3D graphics production and to create a gaming project by the end of the session.

But along with learning the skills he needs to develop technology projects, Jimmy is also practicing to become a better competitive gamer. Although he is a teenager who may seem like any other teen his age, Jimmy, or “MMMPotatoes” as he is known in the gaming world, is already taking big honors for his age playing in video game tournaments at summer camp. During the last summer season alone, Jimmy set a tournament record, achieving four regional titles—three wins of which were consecutive.

Jimmy may be following in the footsteps of esteemed gamers before him, such as Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel, considered by many gaming authorities to be the top gamer in the world. Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel is the most accomplished, professional PC Gamer in history and is the breakthrough name and face of the sport. As the world’s most famous PC gamer, he spreads interest in PC gaming wherever he goes and, in the process, has become the sport’s worldwide ambassador.

Johnathon Wendel (Fatal1ty)

This upcoming summer, students such as Jimmy (and other up-and-coming gaming stars) will have the opportunity to test their skills against luminaries such as “Fatal1ty” and members of the Free Players Organization™. We at internalDrive, the national leader in summer technology camps, have partnered with The Fatal1ty Brand to provide students from across the country an opportunity to play against the best of the best.

Students attending our elite game development camp, the iD Gaming Academy, will have the chance to play in these exciting tournaments. Our players will engage in intense competition on gaming servers hosted by NVIDIA, one of the premier names in computer gaming hardware. They will play some of the hottest computer games on the market, including QUAKE 4 from id Software. Local tournaments will narrow down the competition and bring out only the best teens, such as Jimmy, who will then move on to play against “Fatal1ty” and members of the Free Players Organization™.

Perhaps the next great gaming star will get his chance at stardom while playing teen gaming tournaments at our iD Gaming Academy. Perhaps that future star will look back and highlight playing his childhood role model while at summer camp as the height of his inspiration. In any event, teens with a strong interest in gaming shouldn’t miss out on this unique opportunity.  For some, playing against “Fatal1ty” or a member of Free Players Organization will be a once in a lifetime event.

About iD Gaming Academy

iD Gaming Academy by internalDrive immerses teens in the dynamic world of video game development.  Students create their own mini game portfolio with levels and interactivity in this intensive 3 week program.  Using powerful industry-standard applications like Maya, teens will learn the basics of 3D graphics production, including modeling, texturing and animating.  Additionally, they’ll participate in late-night gaming tournaments, LAN parties and tour a game development studio.  Sessions are at UCLA, Stanford University, UC Berkeley and Villanova University. Visit www.idgamingacademy.com or call -1888-709-TECH (8324) for more information.

About Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel
Johnathan became the world’s first full time professional video gamer in October 1999, when he placed third at the CPL’s Frag3 tournament. Two weeks later he was invited to represent the USA in an international tournament in Stockholm, where he went undefeated with a perfect performance, winning all 18 maps and losing none. He has continued to dominate competitions all over the world, competing on 6 continents during his 6-year professional career.

Winning the 2005 CPL World Tour Finals in New York City secured his twelfth Major Championship and tenth world title, accomplished while competing in 5 different games – an unprecedented achievement. His New York City victory earned him $150,000 and brought his 2005 total winnings to $231,000. During his competitive gaming career Fatal1ty has placed 1st in 65% of all the competitions he has entered and top 3 in 90% of them.

About Free Players

The Free Players Organization is made up of Professional Video Game Players, who compete in tournaments around the world. Unlike other video gaming groups who take a portion of competition winnings, members of the Free Players retain all prizes won in tournaments.

Free Players are dedicated to the promotion of Video Game competitions as a true sport and travel the world to advance that concept.

With contributions by Kenneth Keegan

 

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Rancho Santa Fe Review

As appeared in Rancho Santa Fe Review

April 19, 2007

Digital Kids Byte Into Being Entrepreneurs

By Karen Thurm Safran

Today’s youth is inundated with technology.  From Xboxes, TiVos, iPods and cell phones, Generation Z will be the most “connected” generation of Digital Kids to ever to walk the planet.

After watching his twelve-year old son surf the net, text message friends, and immerse himself in technology, sales consultant and business owner Peter Hanson had an idea.  Why not harness his twelve year old’s thirst for technology and redirect it towards a skill that would help him compete in the 21st century?

Although his company was doing well, his website didn’t adequately portray his firm.  If his son Kyle learned how to build websites, he could then hire him to redesign and update his company’s site.  Luckily, while surfing the web, his wife had come across a technology camp where they could send their son Kyle to learn these new skills.

So while most young boys are busy playing sports during the summer, Kyle attended iD Tech Camps and learned how to make websites pivot, jump and bounce with Flash Animation.

iD Tech Camps provides weeklong, beginner to advanced, hands-on summer technology courses for ages 7-17 at 50 prestigious universities in 22 states, including UC San Diego.  During the week, students produce 2D video games with Torque Game Builder, design 3D video games with Beyond Virtual^TM, create zany digital comic books using Comic Book Creator^TM, Wacom® Pen Tablets and Adobe® Photoshop®, and much more.  With small class sizes averaging only five students per instructor, students are given the attention they need to excel.

Besides a week of fun, these Digital Kids leave with a completed project using products which professionals use, increased tech-confidence, and a competitive edge.

“I was really proud that I created a really cool website within one week that made my instructor’s jaw drop when he watched my Flash Animation morph from different shapes into a logo,” said Kyle.

With the Flash Animation Shape Tween tool, Kyle made his animation come alive.  He used different colored shapes that finally morphed into his “Kyle Henson Productions” logo.

“At first it was hard, but my instructor showed me how to morph objects.  I think making animations for my site was not only super fun, but really rewarding knowing that I was using the same software that professional web designers use.”

The end result is a sense of empowerment, independence and self-confidence as students learn to articulate their creativity through new ways by using technology.  Often times they incorporate what they’ve learned in their school projects or even start side businesses.

With these Digital Kids, the sky is the limit.

For more information about iD Tech Camps, please visit www.internalDrive .com or call 1-888-709-TECH (8324).

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Tags: UC San Diego News Articles
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Seminole Chronicle

As appeared in Seminole Chronicle

April 12-18, 2007

Stimulating Imaginations at iD Tech Camps

“Of all the many camps my son has attended, iD Tech Camps is by far the best,” says Connie Ryan.  “As an educator, I’m extremely impressed with the quality of this program.”   This summer, join parents like Connie and send your child to iD Tech Camps where they learn the latest technology with instructors who make learning fun.  iD Tech Camps offers weeklong day and overnight summer technology programs for ages 7-17 at 50 prestigious universities nationwide in 23 states and Spain. Locations include the University of Central Florida, the University of Miami, and Emory University.

Create 2D and 3D video games, experience game modding with Battlefield 2142^TM from Electronic Arts, improve your gaming skills with the Gaming Athletes course, build VEX^TM robots to compete, design websites with Flash® animations, film and edit digital movies, create your own comic book with digital photos, learn programming and more.

With one computer per student and an average of 5 students per staff, students are given the attention they need to excel and complete a project by the end of the week.  Activision, Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, Clickteam, DigiEffects, GarageGames, Beyond Virtual, HP, Intego, Logitech, THQ, Microsoft, Red Giant Software, RedOctane, Roxio, SmartSound, Symantec, Wacom, Western Digital, and others have partnered with iD Tech Camps to raise the bar in technology education.

But that’s not all.  At UC Santa Cruz there is a Surf & Tech program where students spend half the day creating a video game or designing a website while the other half surfing.  At Stanford, students engage in Sports & Tech where half the day is spent playing tennis, golf, fencing, or TaeKwonDo.  Additionally, teens can travel to Spain for our Documentary Filmmaking program or participate in iD Gaming Academy for an intensive 3 weeks of game development.

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Tags: Emory University Computer News Articles
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New Comic Book Creation Camps

Hello iD Nation!

We’re ramping up for the camp season so my blogging time has been sidelined a bit. But, here’s the second posting for the day. Here is a cool new press release that is going out next week. Yeah, you have the inside scoop so you get to see it early.

-BEGIN PRESS RELEASE-

9-year-old Comic Book Creator Goes to College

Imagine you are 9 years old. You visit your local neighborhood comic book store at least twice a week and end up spending your hard earned $5 allowance all on Comic Books. Your favorite films and TV shows are all based upon Comic Books and Action Heros. You spend all of your free time dreaming up the next crazy Comic adventure that your character will be getting into—and out of.

What if you were able to actually immerse yourself in this super fantasy world? What if you were the author and the designer that made the comic book creations come to life? Better yet, what if this was incorporated into a boring history assignment from school? History, fun? According to the George Lucas Educational Foundation, with the introduction to project-based learning in the classroom, there is a decline in absenteeism, an increase in cooperative learning skills, and improvement in student achievement. These benefits are heightened even further when technology is integrated into projects.

With hands-on learning becoming such a prominent feature in schools, teachers across the nation are looking for new interactive teaching tools and methods to get students more excited about school. “Teachers increasingly have to compete with the iPod Generation,” says Pete Ingram-Cauchi, CEO of iD Tech Camps. The flashy, open canvas of an LCD monitor and creative software that is out on the market are making it harder and harder for teachers to teach with the traditional pen and pencil mentality. “There is room for both trains of thought in the classroom,” said Ingram-Cauchi. “But there has to be room for creativity on both sides. We can’t expect our kids to adopt homework assignments the same way they used to—especially if the second they leave school they are living in a digital world—text messaging on their cell phones, listening to MP3’s, and jumping on the computer right before dinner.”

With the digital age upon us, iD Tech Camps, the nation’s largest operator of summer technology camps, has pioneered a new course dubbed Adventures in Comic Creation, a hot software program developed by Planetwide Media. It will allow young students, ages 7 to 10, to take images and morph, distort, and render them, ultimately producing a colorful comic strip.

Karen Thurm Safran, iD Tech Camps V.P. of Marketing, commented, “iD Tech Camps has been teaching students programming, robotics, web design, 2D and 3D video game design and movie-making for 9 seasons now. This season, we’ve expanded the scope to include comic book design. We’re teaching useful skills that our students can take back to the classroom in the fall…Oh, and it’s tons of fun!”

The programs offered at iD Tech Camps is held at 50 top universities throughout the country, from Stanford to M.I.T. The program helps to bridge the gap between creativity and education by using a method known as project-based learning, which promotes fun, energetic and lifelong investigative learning. Project-based learning shifts away from traditional classroom lectures and actively engages students by promoting understanding, empowering kids, and motivating them through exploration.

“This course is perfect for active and imaginative younger students wanting to explore digital art and introductory graphic design,” said Ms. Safran.

The Comic Book Creator software that the students at iD Tech Camps will be using features a simple drag and drop format that allows students to import digital images into the program, add caption boxes, word bubbles and clip art, and output the final creation into a PDF file for easy printing.

Unlike other software programs, which are loaded with interfaces and are difficult to learn, the Comic Book Creator program is user-friendly and can be learned within moments of installing.

When the software is used in the classroom, students can create fun and educational comic strips from whatever discipline being taught – math, science, reading, history, English, political science, art, ESL, or even special education – to help them with the learning process.

Recently, a local physical education teacher used the software to help a student create a refreshing new yearbook format for the hockey team.

While the course offered at iD Tech Camps is just one week long, the skills can be transferred into the classroom year-round, offering students the opportunity to express themselves creatively in the subject of choice. “It’s hands-on learning at its finest. And it’s the wave of the future,” said Safran.

So the next time your kid heads to the comic store and forks over $5 of his allowance, you might want to think if it is truly a waste of money are an investment in the future.

About iD Tech Camps

iD Tech Camps provides weeklong, day and overnight summer compute camps for beginner to advanced students, ages 7 to 17, at 50 prestigious universities in 22 states. Students create video games, digital movies, programs, websites, robots and more. For more information, please visit www.internalDrive.com or call 1-888-709-TECH (8324).

About Comic Book Creator™

Comic Book Creator self-publishing software delivers fully-licensed artwork, speech bubbles, animations, and sound effects. Users can drag and drop images, icons, tag line symbols, clip art, audio clips and artwork into a selection of over 100 different layout and design templates, then combine their creations with a personalized storyline to make their own comics. The completed creations can then be posted to blogs and emailed to friends, printed in a comic book form or published to Planetwide’s comic fans online social network at http://www.hypercomics.com. For more information, please visit http://www.mycomicbookcreator.com.

 

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