Cooking. Drumming. Soccer. Dance. Technology. Clothing design. Financial literacy.

The 2024-25 edition of the Poughkeepsie City School District’s Community School’s Elite Summer Adventure camp has spanned a wide range of topics and options available to students, while participation has ballooned.

“The kids have a whole plethora of activity,” said Natasha Brown, executive director of Community Schools, the department that organizes and runs the camp at Poughkeepsie Middle School. “We pride ourselves that they come in smiling and leave smiling.”

And, Interim Community Schools Administrator Jessica Ortiz added, “they don’t want the program to end. They’re all having a really good time.”

For six weeks, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday through this Friday, 220 students in grades K-8 play games, take nature walks, sing karaoke, learn film editing and other activities suited to their age ranges. Students can also opt to spend part of the day at Roy’s football camp held at the high school, and all students are given breakfast and lunch. 

The list of options was crafted by Community Schools after surveying parents. It’s been executed with the help of numerous community-based organizations, including Charlia Frank, Enjian Arts, Poughkeepsie Performing Arts Academy and The Black & Latino Coalition’s Mighty Young Techs program, as well as Sweets by Ari, the Growing Stemz Foundation, Rohan’s Soccer and the Poughkeepsie Cardinals.

For part of the day the students are given options of which activities to pursue, and they can switch activities as their interests evolve. “It not only fuels their imagination but curates their curiosity,” Brown said.

Steve Harris has two daughters in the camp, Clinton student Nayelli Harris-Espinoza and middle schooler Amaliah Harris-Espinoza. He said the camp “takes a lot of strain” off of parents during the summer. He “sees progress” in his daughters, who often come home showing off what new dances or cheerleading skills they learned.

“The kids love it,” he said. “They really love the camp and they love all the workers that work there. They really take the best care of them through the day.”

In addition to 20 district camp monitors, the staff includes 10 student mentors. “That’s invaluable, to have the high school students interacting with the elementary students,” Brown said. “They have a connection that adults can’t have with the kids.”

The relationship is reciprocal, Ortiz said, as the older students gain leadership experience.

Kiara Calendar, a rising sixth grade student, said she made banana pudding and English muffin pizzas during the cooking activity, played basketball, soccer and “athletic stuff,” and took a trip to Vassar Farm.

Of cooking, she said, “You can make creative stuff and just express your feelings through art. Cooking is basically art.”

Campmate Heaven Murphy sat next to her in during the cooking activity as they waited for their pizzas to come out of the oven.

“Camp is amazing,” Murphy said, noting the trip to Vassar was a highlight. “We went to this community farm and we looked at new vegetables and things. I saw one and wondered how it tasted, so I tasted it.”

Though, she said, “it really wasn’t my favorite.”

Brown said part of the camp’s goal is to prepare students for the start of the next school year and explore their interests. Students will be surveyed at the end of the six weeks.

She also said Community Schools plans to continue the camp activities through the year at its Saturday Morning Lights. That includes a prospective elementary marching band.

Now in its third year, available spots in the camp grew from 125 last year. Even with 220 participating, though, more than 115 students were on the waiting list this summer.

That’s something Brown said will hopefully be remedied next year for an even bigger camp experience.

“We’re going to have conversations about funding so we can expand the opportunities for more kids,” she said.

Poughkeepsie students at Camp Nooteeming

In addition to the Elite Summer Adventure camp, roughly 75 Poughkeepsie students entering the fourth and fifth grade are spending two weeks at Camp Nooteeming, in Pleasant Valley.

Community Schools received a grant of more than $75,000 from Dutchess County for the students to attend the camp for free, including transportation costs. It’s the third consecutive year Community Schools received the grant.

Camp@Pathfinder, which is run by the Pathfinder Foundation, provides students with the full outdoor summer experience, with such activities as canoeing, swimming, archery, hiking and more.

The students started camp Aug. 5 and will wrap up Aug. 16.