In The News
August 6, 2002
Summer program finds kids’ potential
By Shari Rudavasky
Globe Correspondent
Isaiah Beasley never expected to find computers
at sleepaway camp. "The camp is in the woods, and I didn’t
think they’d have technology there" said the 13-year-old
Dorchester resident. But Camp Wing in Duxbury, where Beasley
is enjoying his second summer, hosts WiredWoods, a program
that aims to excite middle-schoolers about the potential of
computers.
The brainchild of a Wayland Businessman,
WiredWoods teaches campers how to design their own Web site,
introducing them to HTML editing, Photoshop and other skills.
"The vision of Wired Woods is to be
a catalyst to get middle-school children enthusiastic about
what the computer can do for them," said Paul F. Deninger,
founder of the program and CEO of Broadview, a Waltham venture
capital firm. "The concept is to marry the joy of camp
with the pragmatism of the computer."
Although much has been written about the digital divide that
separates low-income children from those better off, Deninger
saw a different problem: Disadvantaged youth had access to
computers, but few incentives to use the, he said. He and
his wife Lori have invested about $500,000 in starting WiredWoods
in an effort to change that dynamic. "We’re trying
to teach kids to be creators with technology ," said
Dana White, Executive Director of the program. "The power
of computers comes when you can create something."
Camp Wing’s philosophy embraces the
notion of literacy development as part of its mission so camp
officials had no doubts about hosting the program."
"WiredWoods fits perfectly into our goal of helping to
bridge that summer learning loss that happens with kids,"
said Tim Millbern, executive director of Crossroads For Kids,
which runs Camp Wing and two other New England camps for at-risk
youths.
Last year WiredWoods opened its computer
studio on the camp grounds with 15 machines. About 210 campers,
age 7 to 14, attend Camp Wing for two three-week sessions.
Middle-School aged kids can opt for the 15-hour WiredWoods
program offered over seven days .
In its first year at Camp Wing, the program
served 77 students, 10 of whom took it twice. This year nearly
100 kids will participate. Deninger hopes to eventually place
the program in dozens of camps that serve underprivileged
kids.
One day into the WiredWoods course, camper
Soelma Silva, 13, already was having a blast. There’s
no computer in her Dorchester home and the only computers
at McCormack Middle, where she will enter eighth grade, are
in the Library.
Armed with a digital camera, she received
her introduction to Wired-Woods just a few hours earlier.
Like every other participant in the program, Silva will leave
with a CD of her work, a modern-day version of the once-ubiquitous
Camp Laynard.
"We got to take pictures of things and put them in the
computer and play around with them." She said. "It
was cool."
|
