UC Davis Summer Camps at iD Tech Camps–You’ve been blogged!

Summer Computer Camp at Sacred Heart…

Summer Camps at Vassar College–CEO…

UC Davis Summer Camps at iD Tech Camps–You’ve been blogged!

July 8th, 2008 by: Pete

UC Davis– YOU HAVE BEEN BLOGGED! Thanks for the letter and photos. You are now famous in the iD blogosphere…

-Pete

Hullo Pete!

Sarah, Lead Instructor at UC Davis, here to give you the official run down on why UC Davis is the most epic location iD has to offer (SARAH, YOU ARE NOT BIASED ARE YOU? -PETE). I have attached several photos in order to further your education on our awesomeness. They will be referred to throughout the e-mail, so I recommend you download them and then refer to them as they are mentioned.

First, I would like to introduce you to the staff. (See photo epic01)
As you can see, we rock. And we rock hard. Starting in the light blue on the left and going clockwise, we have myself (Biscuits), Jamiel (Shark), Brian (Chicken Noodle), Devin (Rocky), Eli (Mimi Shot Omega Mega), our camper turned honorary staff member Trevor (Neo, more on him later), and Patrick (Maverick).

The next thing to show you is our lab. (See photos epic02 and epic03) First of the lab photos is the large glass overlook above the main section of our lab. You will quickly notice that in said windows we have constructed not one, not two, not even three but FOUR old school games. From left to right, Space Invaders, Super Mario, Pong, and Tetris. Myself and one of our instructors from last week (Ravin Craig, Toast), made these lovely displays of old school gaming watching over the new school of iD Tech at UCD. These games proudly stand guard over our campers, reminding them of their gaming roots.

The next photo of our lab is of our 4th of July decorations. As you can see, we went all out in making sure our lab was as patriotic as possible. Look even closer and you will notice a few of our instructors wearing very large American Hats. These hats were loved by campers and parents alike to the point that several even mentioned them in their evaluations (of which this week, our parent evals were 100% positive and many wrote paragraphs about how awesome we are).
I would next like to inform you of the creativity and resourcefulness of our campers. (See photo epic04). Here we see the results of campers getting together with their instructor and planning one of the best jokes we have seen on our Director. Instructor Shark and his Web Head group took a photo of Director Mimi Shot Omega Mega and made 17 paper masks with ribbon to hold the mask on. Under guise of group work, Shark moved his group of prankster kids out of the lab and into the hallway to put on the masks. Then they all streamed back into the lab like some sort of iD style ending to V for Vendetta. I would like you to refer to that photo one more time and imagine 17 of those coming at you at once. Enough said there.

Finally, possibly the most epic photo of all. (See epic05). At first glance this photo is only mildly epic, but allow me to walk you through why it is EPIC. Let us begin on the left, with Instructor Chicken Noodle. As a returner, he has now amassed about 4 iD polos. For 4th of July he sacrificed one of them in order to complete his red, white, and blue outfit. He is also wearing the aforementioned large American Hat. Now the reason for his positioning in the photo is not to run away from the water, but because the bucket of water was too heavy for the camper who is dumping it. Dominique B (my only student for the week) had her ticket pulled to dump water on a staff member. She chose Mimi Shot Omega Mega. With Chicken Noodle’s assistance, she was able to lift the full bucket of water. She is an amazing camper and we were all pleased she was chosen for the biggest prize. You can see the happiness on her face as she gets the dump that water on our Director. Next, we have our Director himself who took the water like a pro. I don’t think I need to say much more about that part of the photo, as it is EPIC on its own. Finally, we have Neo, our honorary staff member. Neo was with us for 2 full camp weeks and for an Ultimate Gaming Weekend in between. It was clear to the entire staff that being with us was a positive life changing experience for him. You could see not only on his face, but the faces of his family at Showcase, what an amazing and positive experience the computer camp was for him. Our camp gave a bright, funny, amazing kid the belief and confidence in himself that we strive to see in all our campers. It was a very rewarding experience for all involved.
UC Davis is EPIC.