College summer camps return after pandemic hiatus

By KELLEN TANIGUCHI on June 24, 2021.

ktaniguchi@medicinehatnews.com@@kellentaniguchi

Kids will be running around the Medicine Hat College campus for the next couple months as summer camps are back after COVID-19 put them on hold last year.

“It’s just really nice to kind of plan the camps and to look forward to having kids in our camps just having fun over the summer. I think we’re just really excited more than anything,” said Amber Kornelson, summer camp co-ordinator.

The camps take place at the college’s campus throughout various rooms and nearby outdoor spaces.

The summer program has camps for everyone between the ages of five and 14 – the only change this year is camps are transitioning to 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. hours after offering half days before the pandemic.

“I think it’s important and parents are often looking for something for their children to do in the summertime,” said Kornelson. “Having these options available where parents can send their kids where they can learn something, maybe learn a new skill and explore new interests they didn’t know they had.

“They might connect with something brand new that might become a passion for them in the future as well. Also, it’s important to just allow an opportunity for kids to connect with each other throughout the summer months.”

Camp genres range from video games to science and art, however this year there will be no cooking classes offered due to concerns surrounding COVID-19.

Capacity for camps will also be lower this year due to uncertainty and just trying to keep kids as safe as possible this summer, says Kornelson.

“We just still want to be cautious and just be sensitive to any concerns,” she said. “So, we’re just keeping our numbers a little bit lower this year just to keep everyone safe and just in case anything changes, too.

“Things are just opening up, so for planning we just planned for lower numbers and will move forward like that. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to increase our numbers again.”

Kornelson and the camp staff are excited to welcome kids back to campus and registration is available at http://www.mhc.ab.ca.

“We are really excited and we’re just hoping that parents will sign their kids up for camp and they’ll join us at the college this summer,” said Kornelson.

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