DOTHAN, Ala. – Making friends, learning valuable lessons and a lot of fun! Wiregrass summer camps begin in just a few weeks.
Things will look a little different this summer due to COVID-19. But for Hawk Houston Youth Enrichment Center’s Executive Director Altha Newman, she is ready for some summer fun.
“The noise. It brings the building to life,” Newman said.
Organizers at the Center are gearing up for its’ summer enrichment program. This year, the program is loosening restrictions..
“The only thing that we will not enforce strictly is the mask wearing. The temperature check in and out, we will continue to enforce that. But not the mask, unless the ADPH directs us to,” Newman said.
Newman says the program will be at half capacity this year, allowing just 35 students..
Across town at Girls, Inc, the annual summer camp has already filled up. The camp will also be at a lower capacity.
“We’ll be doing a lot of STEM: science, technology, engineering and math. Well be talking about the solar system, ocean, planets,” said Executive Director Jaime Hale of Girls Inc. “We’re not gonna require masks of the girls. And now the CDC says we don’t have to keep them 6-feet apart, we can keep them 3-feet apart so we’re loosening our protocols but still being safe and doing what we can do protect the girls.”
Hale says summer camps are especially needed this year, with students struggling to learn online.
“Summer programs just in general, like structured summer programs are beneficial to kids because they help with summer learning loss. I think our kids struggled with that anyway because of virtual learning. And so i think its more important now for kids to be in educational programs where their minds are going to be being used so that they’re not so behind when they get to the next school year,” Hale said.
The City of Dothan Leisure Services and Wiregrass Boys and Girls Clubs in Enterprise and Geneva are accepting summer program registrations.
If you’re interested in registering your kids for any of these camps, find them below.
