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 (Reading) -- Dozens of young teens from South Reading experienced campus life at Alvernia College and toured Berks County sites during “Creativity Camp,” July 17 to July 21. The camp was a week-long program to encourage right-brain exploration and a love of learning.
Visiting the Goggleworks, birding at Hawk Mountain, and learning how the Reading Eagle is published and printed, plus hands-on art and computer projects were part of the interactive curriculum for city youth that included personal interaction with Alvernia professors, who taught and coached them, played games and sports with them, or read with them daily.
Creativity Camp was the charter program of the South Reading Youth Initiative to serve inner-city youth launched in June of 2006, by a partnership of sponsoring organizations: Centro Hispano, St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church in South Reading, The Jesuit Center at Wernersville, and Alvernia College.
Other highlights of the day camp included a make-your-own-instruments workshop; movie interpretation with Dr. Marc DiPaolo; a cartooning class at the Goggleworks with Dave Manak, formerly with Marvel and DC Comics; creative writing 101 on campus; and a tour of the Jesuit Center.
The camp concluded Friday afternoon with a “graduation” ceremony for students and their families at Centro Hispano.
The “South Reading Youth Initiative” will provide middle-school aged city students with programming and services to help them persist and achieve in school, and prepare them to make a difference in their community.
In addition to the summer program, the Initiative plans to install a permanent home for the program at the St. Peter’s Parish House. The Initiative’s fall program will include on-going tutoring and mentoring of youth from underserved populations, collaborative activities with Olivet/PAL Boys and Girls Club, and visits to campus and classes at Alvernia College tailored for them with help and leadership from campus groups such as the Alvernia Outreach Program, Service Scholars, and student service-learning projects.
Pennsylvania State Senator Michael O’Pake obtained a state grant of $25,000 to move the initiative forward. Additional grant funding has been secured in conjunction with Centro Hispano for ongoing support of the program.
Alvernia College is a co-educational Catholic College of 2,560, including traditional undergraduates, continuing education students, and graduate students. Sponsored by the Bernadine Sisters of Saint Francis, its purpose is to provide affordable quality education that combines the liberal arts with career and professional opportunities, preparing learners for personal achievement, social responsibility and moral leadership.
For more information about Alvernia College, call (888) ALVERNIA.
Updated:
January 10, 2007
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