For many children, summer is often associated with playing outside, going to the pool, and chasing ice cream trucks down the neighborhood street after a 100-degree day. For children attending Camp Curiosity, summer looks slightly different.
While they may still associate summer with having fun outside, they may also link it with new vocabulary words and learning more about the English language.
Camp Curiosity is a 4-week summer camp for all K-12 English learners in the district.
Between the K-5 site at Deer Park Elementary and the 6-12 site at College View Middle School, Camp Curiosity hosts around 300 students daily, an increase from past years.
Shelley Hammons, director of the Deer Park Elementary site, explained the growth.
“It originally started with just the migrant education students,” Hammons said. “Through some federal funding through the Act for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, we have been able to invite all English learners.”
The program uses bilingual teachers and online technology to serve students that speak Swahili, Burmese, Dari, Pashto, Spanish, and Korean.
No matter the language, the focus is on literacy acquisition, Hammons said.
“(Students) spend a lot of time doing foundational literacy skills and learning the English language,” Hammons said. “Then they will have some comprehension, reading, writing, and speaking skills to go along with developing their English language.”
Jeanette Barreiro, a teacher at Camp Curiosity and instructional coach who helped develop some of the program’s curriculum, talked about what that looks like for her 6th and 7th-grade students.
This year, her students are learning English by studying the topic of hurricanes. The students use books, visuals, conversation, and vocabulary-based games.
“Our goal is to build their knowledge,” Barreiro said. “If we can build their knowledge, that builds their vocabulary and ability to be more flexible with the curriculum throughout the school year.”
In addition to English, the students spend part of their day in mathematics classes focusing on content they will be taught in the upcoming year.
Rising 8th-grader Spogmai Pirzada moved from Afghanistan to Owensboro in December of 2021 and said Camp Curiosity helps her prepare for the academic school year.
“I have experienced many good things (at Camp Curiosity),” Pirzada said. “I like it because before school starts, they prepare us.”
Hammons said the academic impact of Camp Curiosity can be seen in the data collected at the beginning and end of the camp.
“We do a pre-assessment and a post-assessment. We want to see if what we’re doing is effective and we’re being good stewards of the finances that we have,” Hammons said. “We have some kids who go from zero on their pre-assessment to 100 on their post-assessment.”
Aside from helping the students academically, Hammons and Barreiro said that Camp Curiosity has a positive social impact on the students.
“Some of the students we’ve seen for multiple years,” Hammons said. “When they come the first day of camp, remember us from last year, run off the bus, and give us the biggest hug – you know what we’re doing is making a difference.”
Barreiro and Hammons also said that an important part of Camp Curiosity is embracing diversity and encouraging students to express their unique cultural identities.
“My biggest memory is we did a dress up day last year where they dressed in their traditional clothing from their culture,” Barreiro said.
Hammons said that diversity and its encouragement are an asset to the Owensboro-Daviess County community.
“Anytime you have a diverse population, you are bringing in experiences and knowledge that many of us will never know or even understand,” Hammons said. “Embracing what every student brings to the table, honoring it, and celebrating it opens our eyes to the world outside of Owensboro and the United States. (We are) fortunate to have this population coming to Owensboro and making Owensboro a better place.”
