Programs in music, arts, Chinese culture, military studies available
USC is offering more than 60 summer camps through many departments open to all ages. Camps range from culinary to arts to test preparation programs.
The USC String Project, a camp providing instruction for the violin, viola, cello and bass is open to any student who has played a stringed instrument for at least a year.
“Our principle goal is keeping our students playing during the summer so there is minimal review necessary in the fall,” said Gail Barnes, the project’s director.
Barnes said that they have three orchestras at varying levels of competence.
“They will be learning level-appropriate skills on their stringed instruments,” Barnes said. “They perform a concert on the final day of camp.”
The Office of Pre-Professional Advising offers APEX, a premedical camp for rising juniors, and PACES, a premedical camp for incoming freshmen.
Sydney Botelho is the program coordinator and adviser for APEX and PACES.
“APEX dives extensively into the application process, shadowing experiences, visits to the gross anatomy lab and mock interviews to prepare students for applying to medical school that summer,” Botelho said.
She said PACES focuses on the transition from high school to college as premedical freshmen.
“We have guest lecturers from medical schools, physicians, medical school students, premed upperclassmen and other community members,” Botelho said. “We also go on two shadowing experiences with two different physicians and go to the gross anatomy lab to do a human cadaver dissection.”
Botelho said that the PACES program for rising college freshmen is a way for incoming freshmen to meet other students with similar goals.
“They have instant friends when they get to campus, and these students stay friends for all four years,” Botelho said.
Columbia’s Cooking! Culinary Camps are designed to teach children ages 9 to 16 cooking to give them greater control over their diet and health.
“We expose participants to natural, local and organic ingredients, teaching them how to read recipes, understand cooking terms and begin developing or advancing culinary skills,” said camp director Katherine Shavo. “Underlying this is education on how food selection impacts nutrition.”
Shavo said the campers will also learn how to eat a wholesome diet with local foods, but the class will still include meat.
“In addition to cooking, we have food-related activities such as tasting games, and will for the first time this year be growing some of our own food,” she said.
The culinary camps include Beginner Basics, Advanced Culinary Cuisine, Around the World, Cooking with a Partner Day Camp and The Science of Food.
Middle and high school students can participate in USC’s Pre-University Programs, or PUPs, at Carolina.
The Adventure Series, presented by the Carolina Masters Scholars, is a camp for academically talented students from across the United States. Students can take one-week courses in small classes taught by USC professors.
The university also offers SAT and ACT preparation programs for high school students. USC also offers Duke TIP Scholars Weekends for high school students who have participated in the Duke TIP Talent Search. Weekends are sponsored by the South Carolina Honors College.
Fashion Week is another PUP Program sponsored by USC’s Department of Retailing.
The Arts Institute of USC is sponsoring a Summer Arts Camp, For the Love of Art, at the Columbia Museum of Art. The camp will focus on movement, poetry and art for 6- to 15-year-olds. The camp offers activities, tours of the museum and writing workshops.
Military camps are offered through the Military Science Studies program at USC. High school and college students can attend camps to learn cadet, military education and other military officer skills.
The university is also offering summer sports camps through the Athletics Department. Camps are offered for youths and teenagers for baseball, basketball, football, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, volleyball and cheerleading.
USC also offers study abroad camps for the summer.
The Confucius Institute at USC is sponsoring a Business Chinese Summer Camp in Beijing, Shanghai and Shaoxing, China. A bridge summer camp is available for high school students who wish to participate in traveling to China. The camp will allow students to learn business Chinese and to sightsee in China.
For more information about USC’s summer camps, visit www.sc.edu.