2024 LYL STEAM Summer Week 1

2024 LakeStreet Youth Labs STEAM Summer kicked off at the beginning of August! A total of 41 campers showed up, from grades 1-3 (Explorers) to grades 4-8 (Investigators). Alongside returning staff from last summer’s camp, we hired 3 new Guides and our first 3 high schoolers as Apprentice Guides! Here’s what we have been up to for the first week of camp:

Week 1’s theme was Fun with Friends

Week 1 of LakeStreet Youth Labs STEAM Summer was an amazing start! Our weekly theme was “Fun with Friends”. We saw a lot of familiar friends from last year’s camp and school year programming, and had fun catching up and seeing how much everyone has grown over the past year!

Friends from a previous GMCC school year program

Friends for a Nonviolent World (FNW) spent time with us all week, focusing on a daily topic such as Cooperation, Conflict, & Problem Solving. They facilitated discussion & practice around interpersonal communication skills and conflict resolution. We acted out skits, played team building games, and got to know each other, the camp staff, & the space.

Investigators (grades 4-8) having a discussion about Conflict with FNW

Investigators playing a team-building game with FNW

GMCC staff member Len started their weekly art sessions with the Explorers and Investigators. We decorated our camp name tags with stickers and made friendship bracelets using beads, charms, & yarn.

Lots of free time was spent playing board games, making rainbow loom bracelets, and creating all kinds of art! We have a lot of creative kids here!

An Explorer holding his art

Self-portraits drawn by the Investigators

We are enjoying another summer of free breakfast and lunch courtesy of Youthprise. The menu changes every day, and includes muffins, cereal, fruit, pasta, burgers, mashed potatoes, and more!

Everyone LOVED going to the Bell Museum for our first Friday field trip! Before the museum, we played and ate lunch at a nearby park.

Campers at the park before the Bell Museum field trip

The museum’s Touch & See Lab is always a hit. We got to touch skulls, furs, and see live critters like geckos, tarantulas, & turtles. Some of us even held cockroaches!

Campers holding a live cockroach

A camper and Apprentice Guide touching bones

We attended a showing of “Supervolcanoes” at the museum’s Omnitheater. It was awesome learning about the science behind volcanoes and watching them erupting on such a huge screen!