He’s only 7 years old, not yet a second-grader at Valley Forge Elementary School, but Adam Gould is certain of his future. He does not just aspire to be an inventor: this, he says, is what he was made for.
“I was created to be an inventor,” he said, chasing a robot he created named Bob around the floor.
At iD Tech Camp, he has the opportunity to explore this budding passion during a day program at Villanova University.
Gould is one of 74 campers, ages 7 to 17, who are exploring technology through hands-on projects, like building robots or creating movies, and small-group instruction in both day and overnight sessions.
“It’s always great to have a place for kids who may not necessarily be into that kind of sports camp,” director Sarah Clausen said. “This really engages them in a new way, with technology and computer sciences.”
Students choose from a variety of courses, learning how to create computer programs, iPhone apps, websites, videos and more.
Kristy Majetich, a junior studying computer science at Villanova, is one of 10 instructors at the camp. For her programming class, she begins with the basics of Java and C++ and moves on according to the class’s ability.
“My goal is for the kids to understand what they’re doing and get excited about Java because you can do so much with it,” Majetich said.
Some students attend the camp for several years, building on the previous years’ lessons. Sam Kruger, who will be a freshman at Friends’ Central, has gone to iD Tech since 2007.
“I’ve taken almost all the courses here, but I’ve made different things each time,” he said.
This summer he is attending the camp for four weeks. On July 14 Kruger was busy creating a computer game similar to Dance Dance Revolution that he described as a challenge, due to the game platform, but one that he could certainly tackle.
“I used the stuff I learned here to make a video and a Web site for school projects,” Kruger said. “I help my family with technology because they’re not great at it.”
In addition to school assignments, Clausen said that students use camp as a way to explore future careers – whether they are 7 years old, like Adam the inventor, or looking into college degrees.
“A lot of our students are teens, so a lot of them are using the camp as a stepping stone to take AP Computer Science or go into college-level courses,” she said.
Students do take time out, away from computers, to enjoy the summer. Villanova campers’ favorite free-time activities include four-square and Ultimate Frisbee, and overnight campers have movie nights and gaming tournaments.
“It’s a camp, so we do some of that fun camp stuff,” Clausen said. “We’re not at computers the entire day; we do get outside and run around.”
Summer computer camps allow youngsters to expand skills in technology, design
By Carrie Schedler
Eight-year-old Aidan Berry sat staring at his computer, obviously perplexed. He was trying to program a video game — a simple one with soldiers shooting at one another and avoiding a low-flying plane and fireballs.
No matter how he directed the soldiers to shoot, though, he couldn’t seem to get them to do it. He needed help. He needed Batman.
To the rescue came Greg Hulet, director of the internalDrive Tech Camps at Ohio State University. His young programmers call him Batman.
“OK,” Hulet said patiently. “Let’s go through it one step at a time.”
Video game and computer-obsessed kids can turn a hobby into work skills at one of internalDrive’s Tech Camps. iD camps give kids as young as 7 a chance to program video games, learn 3-D animation, and even make iPhone and iPad applications.
The camps are available in day and overnight options at local colleges (Case Western Reserve University, Ohio State University, and the University of Michigan) and use software programs such as Adobe, Autodesk, Clickteam, DreamWeaver, and Multimedia Fusion Developer 2. There’s even an Ultimate Gamers Weekend for 12 to 18-year-olds who want to sharpen or test their skills.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) – Campers are working hard at creating video game and websites.
Director Katie Taylor said that the camp doesn’t just focus on a single kind of game.
“We have a variety of classes offered. Everything from game creation, arcade and platform, to programming C++ and Java and designing FPS games which are First Person Shooter games, and also role playing games,” said Taylor.
Campers enjoyed the experience of meeting and collaborating with others who shared their interests.
“It’s just so much fun to learn how to do everything and make your game so your person can run around in it and play with other people,” said camper Nolan Risse.
Our labs are very impressive; typically a network of 30-100 computers boasting the latest technology, most cutting-edge games and applications and the kind of decorations that only iD staff know how to bring. However what is equally impressive is that the labs are built from scratch in a mere 48 hour time period. That’s right, in only 48 hours iD staff is expected to turn a totally empty class room into a lab space worthy of the iD name. What more impressive is that it is typically accomplished with only a couple of staff. I consider myself an expert at setting up labs at this point and try to help set up as many locations as possible. I decided to doucment how a typical lab set-up runs while I set up the Ohio State University lab with the help of OSU lead instructor Bryce (who was also the writer of our ’09 Web-Design and Flash Animation Curriclum):
Day 1
Day one is all preparation for the arrival of the computers which happens the following day. Prior to arrival “Camp-In-A-Box” (C.I.A.B.) has been shipped to the University location. CIAB contains all the non-tech related materials to run a successful camp. The combine shipping weight of “Camp-In-A-Box” averages at close to 500lbs. The main objectives of day one are to un-pack an organize 100% of the “Camp-In-A-Box-Materials”, purchase any additional materials needed and then to prepare all the workstations for the arrival of the computers the next day.
Bryce is consumed by “Camp-In-A-Box”!
Every single item is inventoried
I never did finish making the cabinet…
Finally, set up and ready for the computers!
Day 2
Day two is all about the computers; inventorying them, setting them up, setting up peripherals, networking them and finally testing them. To stress test the electical needs of the room, we turn them all on and off at the same time, nothing like hearing the windows start-up song coming out of 30 machines at the same time (I’ll try to get a video of that, did you know Brian Eno made the theme?). Once the computers are set up, if there is still time we’ll unwind by making some decorations.
More boxes!
What’s crazier, that pile of ethernet cables or boxes stacked all the way to the cieling?
Things are beginning to shape up….
Now there is a lab!
Of course, the most important part is still missing and won’t arrive for another day:
THE STUDENTS!!!
Rock on Bryce!
That’s all for now! Sorry I’ve been quiet the past couple months but now that camp is over (and I’ve taken a well deserved break) you’ll be hearing a lot more from ‘ole Grizzle!
Hey guys, I’m currently on the road at one of iD’s Tech newest locations: OhioStateUniversity!Let me tell you I’m excited for this location!After my tour today I have no doubt that we are in good hands at OSU, here are some of the highlights:
One-bedroom apt. style dorms:Each dorm room has a living room and a bedroom area and its own bathroom!During the year, these rooms house 4 college students but we’ll be using them for only 2 iD Tech Students (shh… don’t tell the OSU freshman that!)
An amazing Campus!OSU is the biggest single campus university in the entire country and every inch of it is filled with something interesting, cool art installments and amazing architecture from also most every American period.
Lots of fields to play on, nice cafeteria, lots of fun stores and cafes to visit, I could go on!
Additionally, while on campus I experienced an amazing chance encounter!
As I was heading toward my car to leave I ran into my good friend Jennifer who I had known in Davis, CA but had since lost touch with.I had absolutely no idea that she had enrolled as a Ph.D. student as OSU.This lead us ponder; what were are the odds that we would run into each other in that fashion?As an engineering student, I’m sure she’ll appreciate this handy work.The odds of us having a rendezvous were:
Odds that I would be responsible for this particular iD Tech location.As we have 12 regional managers (an un-paralleled level of support for our camps) let the odds of me managing this locations: “M” = 1/12
Odds that I would be visiting OSU on that particular day of the year.Though there are 365 days in a year, there are only 260 work-week days on which I can conduct business so let days: “D” = 1/260
Time spent on campus.As I spent about 4 hours and our rendezvous would not have occurred if I was offset by even 1 minute, let: “T1” = 1/240 (60 minutes)
Odds that I would be in that specific location on campus. .Ohio State University is the largest single-campus university in the entire country, weighing in at 76,447,800 square feet.So let my odds of being in that particular location be: “L1” = 1/ 76,447,800.
Constants:
Though I can only be in one place at a time we must assume that I can identify people within 20 square feet of me so we’ll need to multiply L by 20.
Currently we have equation:
1/12 * 1/260 * 1/2 * (1/76,447,800*20)
-or -
M*D1*T1(L1*20)
However, this falsely assumes that my friend
1)Was not considering any other PHD programs when applying
2)Stayed in a fixed position on campus all day
So we need to include an entire other half of the equation for her.It will be similar to mine but we have to adjust certain items. For instance we’ll assume that she spends 3/4’s of the year on campus (D2) and we’ll assume that OSU was one of 7 different PhD programs which she applied to (P).Also we’ll assume that on days she is on campus she spends the entire day work-day on campus (T2).So her side of the coin looks like:
(1/7 * 1/274 * 1/480 (1/76,447,800*20))
-or-
(P*D2*T2(L2*20))
When combine with my side, the result is 9.9282872 × 10-26 which is a face-meltingly small number, far lower then getting a royal flush in poker or even winning the state lottery.
CLEVELAND — Eight-year-olds creating video games. Twelve-year-olds building robots.
Thirty-six children, ages 7 to 17, were designing, programming and creating video games, Web sites and robots at the internalDrive Tech Camp at Case Western Reserve University this week.
On Wednesday, 11-year-old Matt Avampato, of Avon Lake, was trying to beat the last level of the video game he had created.
“I beat the last level about 50/50,” Matt said as the queen killed the hero, making him lose the game he was playing. “It’s just luck and strategy and what you do.”
Matt shrugged off his loss and continued to tweak his alien- and army-themed video game.
Prathna Kumar, 8, of Avon, was also busy testing out her video game, “The Dark Sea.” She quickly hit the up, down and side arrows on her keyboard to avoid the vicious sting of eels and octopuses. The object of the game was to get the little fish across the ocean safely back to its family.
At the end of the week, Prathna and all the other gamers will be able to take their games home and play them on their computers against their friends.
“This camp builds their confidence,” said Gloria Badillo, the camp director, adding that her favorite part is seeing their transformation.
“They keep coming back,” she said.
The tech kids don’t just sit at their computers all week. They have gaming tournaments and even play some non-electronic games such as freeze-tag.
“We try to give them a sense of community-building,” Badillo said.
This is iD Tech Camps’ first program at Case Western and fourth weeklong session. Children enroll for one or several weeks, learning a new program each week.
This week is 12-year-old Trent Taylor’s third week at the tech camp. The Cleveland Heights student and two other kids are building a robot.
Glitchy, the robot, must have been sick Wednesday, because it was not functioning properly — going left instead of right.
The robotics challenge of the day was for the four-wheel structure to pick up a ball with its robotic “hand” and place it in a bowl.
Trent spent his first two weeks at camp working on a Web site. As he clicked on a 4-inch icon of the Statue of Liberty, the structure crumbled into six pieces — way high tech.
Rania Shakkour at 329-7127 or rshakkour@chroniclet.com.
“Of all the many camps my son has attended, this is by far the best. As an educator, I’m extremely impressed with the quality of this program,” Connie Ryan.
iD Tech Camps is the nation’s most recommended technology camp! Weeklong day and overnight summer technology programs for ages 7-17 at 50 prestigious universities in 23 states including Case Western Reserve University.
“I like iD Tech Camps because as a 13 year-old, I got a chance to do something that people only dream of doing,” Daryl, student. Create 2D and 3D video games, build robots to compete, design Web sites with Flash® animations, film and edit digital movies, create your own comic book with zany digital photos, learn programming and more. Additionally, teens can travel to Spain for our Documentary Filmmaking program or participate in iD Gaming Academy for an intensive three weeks of game development.
“iD Tech Camps is a fun and educational experience that helped me look deeper into a subject that I really enjoy,” Kristian, student. With one computer per student and an average of five students per staff, campers are given the attention to excel. Each program immerses campers in a creative and fun learning environment, enabling them to harness the power of technology while having a blast and completing a final project with leading products which industry professionals use.
Expertise: Photoshop, Illustrator & Graphic Design, Prairie Dogs, Corn, Driving Tractors, Moonwalking, and Guessing the Quantity of Random Objects in A Jar
