As appeared in The North Andover Citizen – article about summer camps in MA
Getting into the game
By Sally Applegate
August 5, 2010
August 5th, 2010
Posted in: iD In The News, Merrimack College
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Local Massachusetts Filmmakers Join Creative Partnership with National Technology Camp
CAMPBELL, CA (PR Web) June 20, 2010 – For their upcoming 12th season, iD Tech Camps, the largest youth technology summer camp in North America, has partnered with local Massachusetts filmmakers to offer an extensive course in Digital Video Editing and Special Effects.
We’ve all been guilty of playing “arm-chair film critic,” sitting at home or in the theatre wondering how we would change the movie to make it our own. A scene transition here, special effects and a new soundtrack there–even if it’s a wildly successful top quality film, the creative bug in all of us itches to make changes. While years ago it would never have been possible, kids and teens in today’s world now have an outlet to satisfy their creative need.
The course, geared towards students with an interest in filmmaking and film production, features Freedom Park, an award-winning, independent family comedy, which ran for a combined 15 weeks in 9 different Massachusetts theatres. The film features Boston sports greats Louis Tiant, Lyndon Byers, and Jerry Remy, and follows two buddies, who after running into debt trouble with a Vegas crime boss, return to their hometown of Freedom Park, Massachusetts to start a gambling ring on Little League baseball to pay off their debt.
Within the weeklong video editing course–which is offered at various university locations including Harvard, Bentley and Merrimack in Massachusetts–students will use actual footage from Freedom Park to learn to mark and trim clips, add music, sound effects and other special effects with the industry’s top software and tools. Also, at the end of each camp session, finished products will be showcased on YouTube® and each student will take home a copy of Freedom Park on DVD to see how their edited version compares to the actual film.
The film’s Producer Andrea Ajemian and Writer/Co-Director Jon Artigo formed the company Artigo/Ajemian Films, which is based in Worcester, MA. Their teen drama Still Green was released nationally on DVD in the fall of 2009, after winning “Best Ensemble” at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, as well as “Best Narrative Feature” at the New England Film and Video Festival.
Their latest feature film BoyBand: Breakin’ Through in 82’ was shot entirely in Massachusetts in 2008, and is currently playing in select theatres in Massachusetts. The film is about a high school quarterback who quits his football team to turn his heavy metal band into the first ever boyband in 1982.
In addition to starring 11 Hollywood actors including Robert Hoffman (Step Up 2, She’s the Man), Ming Na (Stargate Universe, ER, The Joy Luck Club), Ryan Hansen (Party Down, Veronica Mars), Michael Copon (One Tree Hill, Scorpion King II), and Laura Breckenridge (Gossip Girl), over 30 local actors have roles in BoyBand. Freedom Park Executive Producer Victor J. Melfa, Jr. recently Co-Produced the documentary The Lost Son of Havana, which was produced by the Farrelly Brothers and is the story of Cuban born Red Sox star, Louis “El Tiante”’ Tiant.
iD Tech Camps summer programs in Massachusetts have already started, and will be running through late August. Gaining hands-on experience with actual footage from Freedom Park, this summer season’s batch of inspired students hope to soon be the one’s in the director’s chair.
ABOUT iD TECH CAMPS
iD Tech Camps is North America’s #1 provider of summer computer camps and technology camps for kids and teens with programs at 60 elite universities in the USA and Canada. Locations include Stanford and Harvard. Established in 1999 in Silicon Valley, the company is family-owned and operated. iD Tech Camps offers technology courses including 3D Game Design, Digital Photography, 3D Game Modding, Maya®, Game Development, Programming in C++ and Java, Programming iPhone® Apps, Robotics, Web Design, Flash® Animation, Graphic Arts and Video Editing. The summer camps consist of weeklong day camps and sleep away camps, and multi-week teen academies. Courses are appropriate for beginner to advanced learners. The company teaches the latest technologies from Apple®, Adobe®, Microsoft®, Autodesk®, Sony®, Valve® and more.
June 27th, 2010
Posted in: iD In The News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Merrimack College
As appeared in The North Andover Citizen – article about our Merrimack summer camps in MA
Innovative iD Tech Camp Lets Kids Create Computer Games
By Sally Applegate
North Andover -
The Blade of Awe has been stolen, and it is up to you to find The Prime Suspect and return the stolen sword to the king.
To do so, you will have to face all the creatures in the woods that don’t want you to get it back, but you have already slain a dragon.
When you reach the Palace of Darkness the Samurai warrior guards will try to stop you, but you are stronger than three of them put together.
Charley Lei of Andover, a sixth grader at West Middle School, has quite the imagination. He is in the process of creating the Quest of Dragons game in a room at Merrimack College’s Deegan Hall, where iD Tech Camp’s young campers are hard at work on their projects.
Sitting next to Charley, Ian McGinty, a seventh grader from Chelmsford, demonstrates how the heroes of these games cope with hit points and benefit from health points – until they run out, that is.
“Ian’s my friend,” says Charley as he explains what happens once your health points run out. “If you lose all your health points, you go to the Underworld, where Death himself decides whether to keep you or send you back to start all over again. It’s basically never-ending. [In my game] you can go to any other city and find another quest.”
Charley views the game he is creating as an adventure that might make a good book someday.
At the other end of the room, Ethan Gouveia, a seventh grader from North Reading, is building a first person shooter game in a futuristic urban world full of villains that must be eliminated.
“You come up and get your gun and ammunition, and there is a second gun here if you are able to get it,” explains Ethan. “It’s supposed to be science fiction. You get keys to the guns, and if you can’t get the keys, you can jump through a door.”
Ethan’s game is a maze of colorful boxes where danger lurks and hidden items will let you get yourself another weapon – or take a hit if you step on a corner, but find healing if you step on a green box – but during the game you can’t see what color the boxes are. If you negotiate the final maze of small tunnels you enter the Win Zone at the base of the game.
iD Tech Camp
Merrimack College is one of three Massachusetts colleges, along with MIT and Smith College, offering youngsters at the national camp this opportunity to spend a week creating a video game and learning many other skills such as game modding, robot building, Web site design, digital movie production and comic book creation.
The youngsters range in age from 7 to 17, and use the products Apple, Adobe, AutoDesk, Canon, Clickteam, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Symantec, VEX, Western Digital, Wacom and others as they build their video games.
They also get a preview of what college life will be like as they work on campus, eat in the college cafeteria, and, for overnight campers, sleep in the college dorms. This is the fifth year at Merrimack College for the iD Tech Camp, which is in its 10th year of operation.
Lead Instructor Greg Kinneman is a 2006 graduate of North Andover High School currently entering his junior year at Worcester Polytechnic Institute [WPI]. This is his second year teaching at the camp.
“Last year I saw a newspaper article on the tech camp and checked out their Web site,” says Kinneman. “I’d had a lot of experience working with kids and was studying game design at WPI with a major in Interactive Media and Game Design. When I went on their www.internalDrive.comWeb site I viewed it as if I were a student coming to camp, would I enjoy it? I found it is a well set up camp, with a beautiful Web page.”
Kinneman applied online, was accepted, and taught at the camp last year.
“I really enjoyed it, so I came back this year,” says Kinneman, whose camp nickname is Jazz Jackrabbit. “I’d like to work for a game development company, either nearby or in California or Texas. I could start as a programmer and work my way up to being a lead designer someday.”
The campers enjoy an outdoor hour every day, with sports, games and interacting as a group. At the end of each day, they gather outside to recognize and thank each other for the help they gave each other during the day.
Camp Director Liz Theis, camp nickname Motherboard, is a grad student at the New School in New York City, and teaches Video Production at the Betsy Ross Arts Magnet School in New Haven, Conn. She says the afternoon acknowledgement is part of the camp’s social experience, giving the campers a chance to interact with people with similar interests.
Kinneman was surprised at how diverse these young computer enthusiasts are.
“When I first came here I expected to see narrowly focused kids,” says Kinneman. “The truth is we have kids from all walks of life with all sorts of interests, really into athletics and social activities. They’re really a diverse group of individuals. They’re what makes this all worth it.”
You can check out the camp for yourself at www.internalDrive.com.
August 21st, 2008
Posted in: Bentley University, Brown University, Harvard University, iD In The News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Merrimack College
As appeared in The Eagle Tribune – article about our MA summer camps held at Merrimack
Making the game: Kids gain computer skills at iD Tech Camp
By J.J. Huggins
NORTH ANDOVER — Being the best gamer on the block isn’t enough for some local kids. They took the competition to the next level and attended camp to learn to create their own video games.
“After I make the game, everybody gives me compliments about how much they like it,” said Dan Gilbert, 13, of Andover.
Using computer software, Dan made a game in which players walk around and shoot people, then take their enemies’ weapons. The Doherty Middle School student was one of 58 campers at the iD Tech Camp at Merrimack College last week.
He and other young people between the ages of 7 and 17 made video games, digital movies, Web sites and robots. The kids worked diligently in computer labs while their young adult instructors walked around giving pointers.
These camps are run at more than 50 colleges and universities in 23 states and Spain. Weeklong camps will run at Merrimack College through the end of the month. Last week’s program had 35 day campers and 23 overnight campers.
The overnight kids slept in dorms and ate in the dining hall. They spent the days working and learning, and their evenings outside or playing board games, video games and watching movies, according to camp director Elizabeth Theis.
Theis is a schoolteacher in Connecticut during the academic year. As the camp’s leader, her nickname is, appropriately, “Motherboard.”
Jeffrey Dreyfus, 11, of Andover went to the camp to learn more about making video games, so he can catch up to his friends’ abilities.
“Just coming here has already helped me a lot,” the Wood Hill Middle School student said.
Destiny Clark, 10, of Atkinson, N.H., made a computerized comic book about the musical group Jonas Brothers.
“They’re probably, like, my favorite band,” Destiny said.
Destiny pasted images of the band members and wrote a story about one of the singers losing his voice. Sitting next to Destiny was her 7-year-old sister, Alexis, who worked on a video game like the hit “Guitar Hero.”
Camp counselors want the kids who create games to go home with a game they can play. Theis said staff members tone down the games that involve shooting, so they don’t have bloody graphics.
Methuen High School student Jason Lavoie, 15, stood in the hall outside one of the computer labs, along with Nathan McGilvray, 14, of Wilmington and Chris Borowicz, 14, of Groton. The trio built a robot designed to roll on four wheels and catapult a pingpong ball at a target.
When asked, some campers said they’d like to pursue a career that involves computers or engineering. But they’re young, and many weren’t sure about what they want to do when they grow up.
But, Theis said, they learned skills that can come in handy some day.
“It’s definitely preparation for a computer science-related field,” she said.
July 13th, 2008
Posted in: Brown University, iD In The News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Merrimack College
As appeared in The Harvard Post – article about our specialty summer camps in MA
Swimming, crafts-video gaming?
By Lynda King
Harvard — Connor Delaney says it would be hard to pick just one thing he likes best about iDTech camp. For the next two weeks the 14-year-old Harvard student, a freshman at the Francis W. Parker Charter School, will be attending the camp in Merrimack, N.H. —for his third year running.
The camp was started in California’s Silicon Valley in 1999, to address what the founders saw as a “pressing need for technology education for kids and teens.” After nine years, the organization now hosts camps in 23 states, and one in Spain. The camp offers day and overnight programs to students aged 7 to 17, all held at universities across the country.
Delaney, who for the past two years has studied video game creation at the camp, in addition to some C++ programming, said he plans to take a more advanced program in video gaming this year, as well as a course in flash animation. Other courses offered at the camp include Web design, filmmaking, video editing, computer programming and robotics.
But, Delaney said, iDTech camp “isn’t just a bunch of computer geeks getting together.” He said computers are only half the experience of being there.
“iDTech mixes it up a little,” he said. “There are a lot of outdoor games and other activities.”
A typical day at camp includes time for Ultimate Frisbee, chess, sports and gaming tournaments. Delaney said he like the sleepover camp, where campers get extra time to interact with each other, see movies and maybe even put in a little extra time on a project. He said the programs are fun, and the counselors “are really nice people who really like what they do.”
Delaney said he has created some games that were “pretty good, but not very long or detailed. “I only had a week to work on them,” he said. “I wish it was longer.”
Asked if he sees what he’s learned at iDTech camp playing a role in his future, Delaney said, “I wouldn’t go into a game design field [for a career]. For me personally it’s more of a free-time thing. It’s just for fun now.”
For more information about iDTech camp, visit the Web at www.internaldrive.com.
July 27th, 2007
Posted in: Bentley University, Harvard University, iD In The News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Merrimack College
As appeared in The Cambridge Chronicle – article about our MA summer programs held at MIT
Catapulting into the future, Cambridge kids fuse creativity and science at tech camp
By Dawn Witlin
Alex O’Reilly, like most big brothers, watches over his younger sibling, Cameron, with a sharp eye.
And, like most big brothers, he’s willing to be critical.
“I think he’s done a pretty good job, but I also see the element where he has two other people to help him,” said 13-year-old Alex as he sizes up “Whiskers,” a robot made by 12-year-old Cameron. The robot was nearing completion after less than a week of assembly.
Alex, 13, Cameron, 12, and Adam Yedidia, 14, are taking a few weeks out of their summer to attend iD Tech Camps at MIT.
A nationwide program for ages 7-17, the camp offers hands-on technology programs ranging from robotics to computer gaming design. There are also movie-editing courses under the supervision of a paid adult staff who bring a range of skills to the table.
Staffer Katy Levinson, 19, coaches five teams of students. Her charges have taught her a thing or two.
“It’s a nice dynamic because to be able to teach something, you have to really, really know it,” said Levinson. “The kids will hold each other in a non throwing things state. They will make progress together, they will fix each other’s problems.”
The technology campers may choose to enroll in a weeklong or several weeks-long courses and are grouped based on skill level.
Alex and Adam have chosen to design computer games, while Cameron is building a robot.
“I’m better with robotics than I am at programming, so I thought I’d stick to programming,” Alex explained, touting his final project: a virtual reality computer game he mapped from scratch.
The player is put to the test of finding keys in each room of Alex’s design, by typing in certain commands to move about.
“It gives a description of the room, and then it gives information such as where doors are and where items are,” said Alex, who attends Graham and Parks School along with his younger brother.
Meanwhile, Adam, who will go to Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in the fall, is putting the finishing touches on a virtual “Connect Four” computer game.
“I was short on ideas, and I thought I’ve always liked Connect Four,” said Adam. “It’s just going to be a neat thing I can tell my friends.”
Since Adam has signed up for another week, he plans to work on giving the game artificial intelligence, so that a player can pit their skills against the computer.
Cameron’s group is busy running between their robot – a silver box-shaped mechanism on wheels equipped with sensors that keep it from running into walls – to the computer program that controls it.
“It’s made to navigate out of a box or something, it uses sonar, like when it’s going along and runs into something, it will turn around,” said Cameron. “It’s just really to move around and basically not get itself destroyed.”
The group is excitedly attaching a catapult to the robot. Its name, “Whiskers,” is in honor of its cat-like sensors.
“What we need to do is, it’s going to have a limit switch so that when the limit switch is pressed, it will wait 10 seconds then the motor module will turn, causing it to fire,” said Cameron matter-of-factly. “It will fling a ball.”
Levinson navigates the frenzied room with flair, reciting program codes to some, directing others how to jump programming hurdles, all the while making the kids laugh through their often frustrating efforts.
“It’s pretty impressive; this group of kids is really good, ” said Levinson. “I love all my weeks, but some of them go faster than others.”
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August 10th, 2006 | Tags: MIT Computer News Articles
Posted in: Bentley University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Merrimack College
As appeared in The Andover Townsman – Setting their 'sites' on the internet by Brian Davidson
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 21st 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.
February 9th, 2006
Posted in: iD In The News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Merrimack College
