Camps bring kids to IU to learn, grow and have fun
June 19, 2012, last update: 6/19 @ 11:02 am
Like baby ducklings following their mother, these young people follow their leaders across the university grounds to their next destination.
The 2012 season of summer camps at IU have officially started.
Campers from elementary to high school age partake from early morning until late evening in programs to improve their skills, either athletically or academically. Whether it’s journalism, music, science or swimming, kids come to Bloomington from all over the world to learn, grow and have fun.
Mimi Zweig, director and founder of the IU Jacobs School of Music Summer String Academy, said this year the intensive program for violinists, violists and cellists is drawing more than 100 students from about 50 countries.
“If I see that the student is playing at a very good level and is excited about music making and plays musically, this is the place for them,” she said. “It’s not a normal summer camp in that the kids can go swimming and horseback riding and have free time and have fun. They have fun because they are doing what they love to do, which is play instruments and play chamber music.”
Some IU programs take the summer camp routine to the next level.
Ray Looze, head swimming coach at IU, said the kids in IU’s swim camps take their participation seriously.
“You can see the progress they’re making day by day, practice by practice,” he said. “I feel a huge sense of an accomplishment. Only during summer camp do I get involved with kids that are just getting into the sport or getting on the national scene. It’s kind of exciting as a college coach.”
According to both instructors, the money made from the camps will continue on to next year’s camps.
“I have to say that the Summer String Academy is self-supporting,” Zweig said. “The revenue we bring in goes to pay for the expenses, and our overhead is very low, because the Jacobs School of Music provides the studios and the piano tuners and the recital halls.”
Looze said staff members help support the camps, which he believes gives them a more family-style atmosphere.
“Kandis Looze, my wife, is the director of this camp,” he said. “Her customer service is first class. She hires the staff personally and makes sure the quality and experience is top notch.”
