BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – MOST schools across the Federation will see very little to no activity during summer vacation, but in just a matter of days the Beach Allen Primary School will become the home of about 200 children who will be engaged in this year’s Department of Youth Summer Camp Programme.
The annual event is one that children across the island eagerly look forward to and count as one of the highlights of their summer vacation.
This year’s camp would be held under the theme “Summer Camp 32 – A Safe Place to Grow for Me and You” from July 19 to August 2 and is loaded with many fun and educational activities that would cater to further development of the children’s understanding of issues by which they are affected.
Senior Youth Officer in the Youth Department Diane Dunrod-Francis, in an interview with SKNVibes.com, said the activities for the camp include the opening ceremony at 2:00 p.m. on July 20, a talent show, a sports day, a sand castle building competition, a gospel night, karaoke and field trips to several organisations including Ross University, Basseterre Fire Station, Basseterre Police Station, St. Kitts Marriott Resort and the Joseph N. France General Hospital.
The children, who would range from eight to 16 years of age, will be engaged in several disciplines including music, Spanish, Football, Art and Craft, Videography, Drumming and Leadership.
Several other sessions will be led by the reigning Miss St. Kitts Tishema Browne; a representative from the Probation and Child Protection Services Department; former Speaker of the National Assembly Curtis Martin; founder of Operation Future Officer Lauston Percival; Youth Advisor Vernon Connor; and Marketing and Human Resource Manager of the St. Kitts Co-operative Credit Union Julie Charles, among others.
Francis explained that over the years the camp’s organisers have been minded to cater to 200 children – 100 of each gender - but there has always been a surplus of applicants and many of them were accepted.
She however indicated that that the quota has already been reached and children are still seeking to apply for attendance, but having more than 200 of them on the camp is not ideal because of space constraints.
“The problem is that we want everyone to come but space is the problem. We are at a school and we can only cater for X amount of students in each classroom. We don’t want the classrooms to be overcrowded with children because, remember, they are not going to be just sitting; there will be cots which will take up more space. We don’t want it to be overcrowded.”
The Senior Youth Office said she has been involved with the camp for about nine years and it has always been an overwhelming success. She expects that the same or an even greater success would become of this year’s camp.
