This summer, North Park students were active, participating in NPRESS, summer courses, Kids College, and serving at Covenant Camps nation-wide. Three students shared their experiences from their camps in their respective roles, in part made possible by North Park’s Camp Grant, awarded to students who serve at Covenant summer camps.

Barrett Loehrer – Lake Beauty Covenant Bible Camp, MN

I found myself in a unique situation at the beginning of the summer. I needed to decide between working at camp for the summer, or maintaining my double major in biblical and theological studies and exercise science. After a couple months of painful prayer and discernment, I felt this summer at camp was one I could not miss. God continually pointed me forward to the summer at camp. I lived here for the 2014-2015 school year as part of Solid Rock School of Discipleship. However, I had never worked for Lake Beauty before.

Our theme for the summer was “Set Free”, based upon the text of Galatians 5:1. Indeed, I personally felt set free in new ways, along with the rest of the summer staff. However, it was seeing kids set free in powerful ways that made the summer worth it. The campers were set free to vulnerably share their struggles with sin and difficult questions with one another, allowing even greater freedom through prayer together about such things.

It was impossible for us to predict how any camper, or which ones, would react to the preaching of the Gospel. It became apparent to me once again that I was not in control, though I sometimes wanted to be. This summer God reminded me that He is sovereign over everything and that everything, including our calling to salvation, is entirely dependent upon His mercy.

Hannah Geil – Cascades Camp and Conference Center, WA

I have successfully worked at camp for three summers now. I vividly remember sitting on the corner of my bed in Anderson, watching one of my good friends apply to work at a camp that was only four hours away from my home. She shared stories of how exciting it would be to venture away and serve God in the middle of the wilderness. This gave me flashbacks to when I had attended that camp for small retreats and I relived the joy those gatherings brought me in high school.

My first year I worked as a counselor. This is a special role that can truly show you what it means to pour out everything for Jesus, loving your kids 23 hours a day for every day they’re in your cabin. My second year I worked as an S.A.L.T. Crew Leader. This meant my partner and I were assigned high school students who were transitioning from being campers to being leaders and guides in the cabins and around camp. It was a summer that revived my love of helping high school students and reminded me how good my God is.

Finally, this summer I worked as a Rec. Leader for a 4th-6th grade section. The Program Leader and I kept the camp moving along. We were the support system for the counselors, ensuring that they and their campers made it through the day smoothly. I oversaw the planning and leading of all the games and activities for the kids, making camp as fun and exciting as possible for the kids. It was one of the most rewarding summers for me. I saw just how awesome God was using each counselor to teach these kids more about him. It was incredible to see counselors turn into screaming children full of face paint, engage kids with the Bible, or moved to tears as they said goodbye to campers each week. No matter how rough the cabin was or how exhausted the counselor was, they always wished they had more time to love on their kids.

My co-director and I both firmly believe in leading by example, and honestly, some of my best memories from my time at camp this summer involved moments in the kitchen. I found myself looking forward to spraying sticky maple syrup off of dozens of plates if it meant being able to belt along to the soundtracks of “La La Land” and “High School Musical” while doing so. The joy and satisfaction I receive from sharing the Light of Christ with young people are incomparable.

şÚÁϳԹϒs Camp Grant has been around for over 20 years, encouraging North Parkers to serve at Covenant Camps during their summers. The grant provides a financial incentive and promotes North Park’s goal of Living Lives of Significance and Service by making summer work experiences at Covenant Camps more financially viable. The grant is awarded to those who display a servant attitude and are positive role models for campers and staff.

Keep serving at camp on your radar for this upcoming summer! Check out a list of covenant camps by following the button below!

NPU Camp Grant

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I followed Kids College and its staff throughout its six-week session at şÚÁĎłÔąĎ this summer. I observed and interviewed North Park students on staff working with Kids College. These are my discoveries and the testimonies of North Park students who experienced working in their fields before they graduated.

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Kids College is a day camp for 3rd through 8th graders in the community. A program under the Covenant Youth Collision (CYC)—a non-profit organization of the Evangelical Covenant Church—Kids College is directed by CYC Program Director Jamie Sladkey. This is her second year holding a director’s role at Kids College, and it is Kids College’s second consecutive year running. Last year’s debut program visited North Park’s campus for one day of each week on a field trip. This year, CYC and Kids College came to a three-day-a-week agreement with North Park to use its facilities for the camp.

“It is our dream to have the camp on North Park’s campus for all five days,” said Sladkey in an interview, and recounted the inception of Kids College: “in 2016, I was the interim program director of CYC, and within that, the program director for Kids College. We decided this in the spring, and then a week later started marketing for Kids College. There was a month between my appointment and the first week of Kids College. Last year it was four weeks, out of Ravenswood Covenant church; we came to North Park one day a week, and it was for 50 kids.”

This year, numbers have increased to around 75 kids per week during the six-week program. Kids are eligible to participate in the program anywhere from one week to all six weeks, or any combination of weeks. Camp still takes place out of Ravenswood two days out of the week, the remainder out of North Park. “We knew that we couldn’t only provide a three-day-a-week camp for kids, because for some parents they don’t have anywhere else to put them in the summer,” said Sladkey. In some respects, Kids College is a substitute for day care for many families. The price of camp this year also reflects their demographics at camp. At only $99 per week—with breakfast and lunch included—and financial aid available, Kids College serves families in need in Albany Park and North Park communities.

The idea of a “kids college” stems from what the CYC has observed from kids all around the world:  spending their summers in front of the TV, not using nor reminding themselves of the knowledge between years in school. For Sladkey and the Kids College team, one of their goals is to “bridge the education gap that kids have over the summer, between years. Kids lose so much of their academic knowledge; they just aren’t on top of things after spending a whole summer doing nothing, so we are intentional about our education modules.”

How they accomplish this is by hiring North Park students with majors in key subject areas for their roles at camp. These students truly put their skills and knowledge to good use. Sid Smith IV, a music major and football player, was hired as the coach, teaching and entertaining the kids in a variety of sports during one of the three daily education modules. He had this to say at the beginning of camp, “I have the love and heart to serve where it is needed. This is a good opportunity for me to get into a coaching role, something I hope to pursue as I get older.”

Sid commented also on how his modules were a great time for the restless children; it was a time to release and focus their energy and have fun with their “classmates.”

Like the kids during Sid’s modules who jumped into their game without instruction, so were the staff working like clockwork from the beginning of the day. They accepted the kids from 8:30 to 9:00am, then transitioned from breakfast into a time of worship. They all sang, maybe danced a little, and then a short message or story was shared by one of the staff members. Their time of worship was a time that the staff witnessed the kids at their most calm throughout the day.

RJ Gonzales worked as a camp counselor and was also the designated nurse. Whether minor or major injury, RJ was able to use his knowledge from his classes as a nursing major at şÚÁĎłÔąĎ to assist and heal the kids who misstepped or accidentally cut themselves. While RJ felt most fulfilled at camp serving in this role, this summer has also taken a toll on him. “This is the longest camp I have been a part of, and so as each day went on, it got more tiring and demanded a lot more from me physically, trying to keep up with the kids who only got more energized.”

The staff regularly met after their long days. On Wednesdays, Sladkey set up a staff worship, “a community dinner—to which people donated meals—and we spent time worshiping and talking together.” They also participated in team building activities during their staff training week.

Alexis Renko, elementary and special education major, and Amanda Huck, studying secondary education and English literature, were teachers for the duration of Kids College. They each had similar things to say about their experiences in the classroom. This being the first time that they had taken charge of their own classes, Alexis pointed out that they “spend so much time learning about teaching in class, in theory, but we don’t get to put that knowledge into practice until senior year, so it’s cool that we get to start it a little bit early with this.”

Alexis and Amanda both expressed the long hours of teaching outside of the classroom, realizing that a teaching position is more than just the hours spent in class keeping the children engaged, but also in preparing the lessons and getting the materials ready. The reality of summer classes combined with camp made it hard to find structure in the midst of the organized chaos. “There is so much more flying by the seat of your pants and making things up on the spot and things not going according to plan,” commented Alexis. “You can only plan so much because something is always going to change, or you’ll realize that you forgot something, or it’s just not working, and in those cases, you have to think on the fly.”

Even though Amanda’s classroom appeared to be in chaos during my initial observation period, she was very much in command of the space and it didn’t take long before the kids were putting their heads together and planning the construction of their bridge. Amanda attributed this command over the classroom to her commitment to the kids and the lessons, “I have to be the most enthusiastic one in the room in order for the kids to like the lesson. If I don’t own my lesson, the kids aren’t going to buy into it at all.”

Kids College, is both a time for scholastic deliberation and camp fun, allowing the counselors and teachers the flexibility to keep the environment safe, fun, and loving, without the pressure of having to pass out grades or keep a rigorous schedule. The teachers shared their favorite moments from camp this summer:

Alexis: When kids really enjoy something that I worked really hard on. Sometimes the kids don’t want to do school because it’s summer, but when there’s something that they are actually learning and they’re having a ton of fun and I get that feedback from them saying “this is so fun” or “I really enjoyed that activity” makes me so happy.

Amanda: My greatest joy was my blueberries (the 3rd and 4th graders; the blue group). I want to be a high school teacher, but these kids have turned out to be the children I never knew I needed. To see them grow as mini people, make friends, and to just watch them change for the past six weeks has just been the cutest thing that I did not know I needed.

RJ: I have a love for kids, and this camp allotted for religious freedom, so that allowed me to love without boundaries and show the love of Christ; we were able to be the hands and feet of Christ. Whenever a kid would smile or give me a hug, that’s what brought me joy. Seeing them sing worship songs, that’s when they were most calm during the day.

Sid: Seeing the kids have fun, being able to see them laugh and smile; that’s pure joy.

Most of all, Kids College’s goal is to provide “a safe and loving environment for the kids in the summer, and that’s something we present to the kids at the beginning of the week, that all of our rules are to keep them safe, and to continually love them,” said Sladkey.

Stephen Nielsen, C’19 is an English with Creative Writing and Media Studies double major at şÚÁĎłÔąĎ. He is also a news and copy writer for North Park at University Marketing and Communications.

North Park’s Summer Science Academy runs for four weeks and includes six courses for high school juniors and seniors. Dr. Yoojin Choi, associate professor of biology at şÚÁĎłÔąĎ, is the program coordinator of Summer Science Academy and regularly teaches classes on anatomy, physiology, neuroscience, and cancer biology. This is the Academy’s third year running, and North Park caught up with Dr. Choi to discuss this year’s program.

NP: Why is it important that şÚÁĎłÔąĎ offer the Summer Science Academy?

Dr. Choi: The first and foremost goal of the program is to serve the local community. North Park is situated in a very diverse neighborhood; diverse in all kinds of measures. A lot of the students don’t have this kind of high-quality STEM experience. In any public school setting, there is a limited amount of time and resources. Having previously taught at the high school level, I know that with a mandated curriculum, it is sometimes difficult to do “fun things.” So we want to give these students a high-quality experience in their local neighborhood; that’s our main goal.

NP: How many students participated this year?

Dr. Choi: This year we had 36 students, filling 41 seats. This means that multiple students took more than one course. We attracted a few more students than last year, and we are drawing from more schools than last year as well. When I look at where the students live, they’re mostly from around the neighborhood, but they go to school all over Chicago.

One exciting and interesting case this year is that we had a student from Jamaica. She found us on the internet, and she came from Jamaica to attend a course.

NP: How is STEM at şÚÁĎłÔąĎ related to the Summer Science Academy?

Dr. Choi: In the big scale, all of STEM fields need more diversity—gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic. North Park is contributing to increasing the diversity in STEM fields. Exposing our neighbors to STEM early on, they’ll be encouraged to pursue an education in STEM fields. The expectation is that when these students see our facilities and interact with our professors, that they will become excited about STEM.

We do rely on donations year by year to allow the program to financially support those in need. Last year the Provost stepped up, and this year a retired professor funded scholarships. Last year we supported four students, this year five, and they are need-based.

NP: What kind of student would benefit from the Academy?

Dr. Choi: Our acceptance rate has been high because many of the students are so well qualified. The application website states that students who will do well and take the most advantage of the program have received A’s and B’s in their science courses. So far, with a couple exceptions, all have been A and B students.

We want to keep our class sizes small. The point of the program is to give students very hands-on, interactive experiences, and we can’t do that in a class size of 30-40 students. We cap the classes at 16 students; that is our maximum.

NP: The Academy takes place in the Johnson Center; what’s the utility of this building?

Dr. Choi: Another goal of ours is to use the state-of-the-art facilities North Park has to serve our community. You know, we built this fabulous new building, and it was underutilized during the summer months, so this gets students into and using the resources here. Utilizing the building during the summer when there aren’t many classes. It would be a waste not to use these great facilities.

Each course is not intended to be an extensive, in-depth kind of thing. We have a morning and an afternoon course, and each is only two and a half hours each day. We have two different types of courses, one that runs for four days, and one that runs for eight days. The schedule was constructed in such a way that if a given student wants to take every course, they can. This way, we also keep the Johnson Center facilities in use all day during the summer time.

NP: Do you incorporate faith into the Summer Science Academy?

Dr. Choi: In a direct way, we do not. However, during our first class this year, taught by Dr. Linda Vick, the first words to come out of her mouth was about God. All of our full-time faculty are Christians, and we are active in our faith lives, and I think that just rubs off. Faith is not a primary component of Summer Science Academy, but we rely on these personal interactions anyway.

NP: What is the benefit for North Park student teachers?

Dr. Choi: We have TAs for the programs. We have full-time professors teaching the courses with some help from North Park students working as TAs. It is a goal of mine to get more students involved for each course. The struggle we run into is that it is hard to get students to stay over the summer for just one week to be a TA while receiving minimal compensation. I am hoping to attract more funds so that we can train and mentor our North Park students and they, in turn, can mentor the high school students.

A synergy between this program and secondary education majors who are interested in science would be most ideal. Last year we had one Secondary Education and Biology student who did her NPRESS research on Summer Science Academy students; this is the synergy I want to see more. My hope is that we can groom the program so that it is a learning experience for our North Park students as well. The TAs will gain experience in mentoring, teaching some of the material, preparing and gaining knowledge on how labs and experiments are taught.

NP: What is your favorite Summer Science course?

Dr. Choi: That’s like asking to pick your favorite child! What our students like the best are the hands-on and inquiry-based classes. Then again, all of our courses are hands-on in one way or another. The biology, chemistry, and physics/engineering classes are by default hands-on. Our psychology and mathematics courses are hands-on in a different way, with lots of discussion and problem-solving. Students love courses in which they can take ownership of the lab, and not scripted activities. The complaint that I received last year was that the students wanted more time in the lab. This is an opportunity for the students to do their own experiments, with the time they need, something that they are unable to do in school.