Western Illinois University Offers Summer Camps in Virtual Format
MACOMB, IL — In a typical summer, Western Illinois University’s (WIU) Office of Study Abroad and Outreach (SAO) hosts an average 10 summer camps, programs in which youth in grades 4 and up spend a week on campus.
During their week on campus, University faculty and staff give students a snapshot of what their degree programs and departments have to offer. This summer, along with many other things across campus, our camps looked quite different. Instead of campers getting to come to campus, they met via Zoom, and WIU faculty and staff worked hard to make it an engaging experience, despite not being able to be together in person.
SAO’s Program Assistant Sally Adams knew that with COVID, remote learning and social distancing were the new norm, and she would have to get creative to continue to engage students in summer experiences.
After some research, Adams learned that virtual programs provided the solution. She reached out to the instructors and programs that were scheduled to hold the 2020 in-person camps to see if they were interested in presenting a virtual program instead. Three programs jumped at the opportunity to use the new format. These programs were created and supported by the University’s Outreach Office and were successful.
Outreach hosted three virtual summer programs: WIU’s “Virtual CSI Experience,” “Art: Colorful Minds and Creative Hands Virtual Edition” and WIU’s “Summer Science Virtual Experience.”
Adams’ main contacts for each program were Jill Joline Myers, director of WIU’s School of Law Enforcement and Justice Administration; Kat Myers, WIU Department of Art and Design chair; and James Rabchuk, assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences – Quad Cities.
Each program had its own successes. The CSI program drew 137 registrants from 15 states. Instruction was led by 10 LEJA professors with federal, state, county and local criminalistic, real-world experience, as well as a professional canine detective and the director of WIU’s GIS Center. The CSI experience extended over four days, highlighting 12 different investigative approaches in an interactive format.
The art program filled with 10 participants and was led by the department chair and two faculty members.
Lastly, the science program was taught by a wide variety of University faculty, as well as many field experts, including WIU School of Nursing alumna Brittaney Castleberry, who just finished her time in a New York COVID unit. She is a current ICU nurse and has worked formerly as an emergency room nurse.
The camps took place in June and July. CSI and science participants met for one week each, and art participants met for two weeks.
Prior to the program start date, each registrant received a program welcome letter and a WIU T-shirt, courtesy of WIU’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions. Upon completion of their program, all participants received a certificate of completion, issued by SAO.
Due to the generosity of the WIU Foundation, all programs were offered at no charge to participants. The Foundation’s $5,000 donation to SAO’s summer programs was used to cover all program expenses and the mailing of program materials to registrants.
Due to the success and flexibility this program format offered, there is a possibility that programs will be offered in this format in the future.
Additional program information can be found at wiu.edu/summeryouth.
This fall, SAO will host virtual LIFE courses. The full LIFE course listing can be found at wiu.edu/life. Questions can be directed to Adams at SA-Adams2@wiu.edu.
