HAMLET — STEM Wellness Empowering Lifelong Learner, known as S.W.E.L.L., is hosting a free summer camp for kids that combines sports with the number line, decimal placement, fractions and 3-D modeling software to help them learn math skills.
The camp plans to use the sports children are familiar with — football, soccer and basketball — to help them make visual connections to mathematics. The children will also be equipped with a fitness tracker to monitor their heart rates and steps taken each day. S.W.E.L.L. will then monitor the students’ math performance in the coming school year.
“(The campers) will be able to take (the information they learn) back into the classroom and have that ‘ah-ha!’ moment and say, ‘Okay, this is how to do this problem,’” said Denise Cozart, owner of Asha B’s Closet and co-founder of S.W.E.L.L.
The camp is for children from ages eight to 16 and runs from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. beginning June 24 and ending June 27 and will take place at the Dobbins Heights Recreation Center in Dobbins Heights.
The camp was started by a partnership between Asha B’s Closet and STEMERALD City in an attempt to address the 60% rate of middle school students passing their end-of-grade tests statewide, according to a press release.
Cozart said Dobbins Heights is also planning to hold these camps throughout the school year to help with testing scores. For more information visit www.imfeelingswell.com or contact the S.W.E.L.L. Office at 363 Earle Franklin Dr. in Hamlet or call 910-682-7188.
Among the sponsors for the camp are the fire and police departments of Rockingham and Hamlet, along with the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office.
“We are so excited for our law enforcement involvement, it goes a long way on bridging the gap on how the community receives the police and fire departments,”
Other sponsors include the House of Fish in Aberdeen and James Hamilton, a former NFL player for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Rockingham High School graduate, used his foundation, Fortune’s Pride, to pay for 90 kids to attend the camp, according to Cozart.