Middle School Camps

Whether they are tackling a mystery short story, or penning their own narrative, campers will read and discuss fun and exciting works of literature while developing their creative and expository writing skills. Special focus is given to studying the elements of the short story, character development, literary devices, the building of vocabulary and the strengthening of writing and reading comprehension skills.

Ceramics is an introductory level camp that focuses on clay exploration. Students will learn core clay building methods, including pinch, slab and throwing on the wheel. Each camper will leave the summer workshop with multiple projects and an appreciation and understanding of basic artistic principles.

Future engineers, scientists, and math-lovers will participate in this innovative, hands-on, project based camp. Students will learn the physics required to launch rockets, learn the basics of webpage construction and hone pre-geometry and pre-algebra skills via engaging and collaborative math curriculum.

Actors, singers and dancers will flourish in a high-energy environment with our renowned drama director and current Saint Francis students. After a week of exploring different theatre mediums and perfecting their performance skills, camp culminates with a showcase performance and reception, open to all friends and family members.

Students will explore introductory skills to be applied to both Mock Trial and Debate. The two-week camp will be split into two weekly sessions, one focusing on mock trial, and the other on debate.

This class serves as an introduction to debate at the high school level. Students will learn the basics of value debate in the Lincoln-Douglas format and limited prep formats. Unlike our other afternoon classes, his is a 4 week camp and runs from June 17-July 12, $440. This camp is restricted to rising 8th and 9th graders.

Fine arts is a basic exploration of art and design. Students will learn how to use the elements and principles of art to create aesthetically pleasing work.They will explore many techniques and methods of the art making process, and will do so through the use of mediums such as oil pastels, color pencils, paint and acrylic medium. This class helps students explore and develop artistic thinking while stimulating and encouraging creative thought.

This is a beginning and advanced guitar course for rising 8th and 9th graders. Students will learn the basics of guitar playing and how to play their favorite songs. Students will be able to write their own songs using basic chords on the guitar. For the more advanced guitar players, students will learn amazing finger techniques and compositional ideas. They will be able to dissect their favorite songs to get a better understanding of how their favorite artists create music.

This class prepares students for the high school entrance exam for Catholic high schools (HSPT). Students learn what to expect on the exam, review the material covered on the exam, and discover and how to apply testing strategies during the exam.

Digital Photography will cover the basic principles of photography and explain the three building blocks of light, time and subject. Students will explore the many artistic choices you make when you take a photograph. They will learn about cameras, lenses and filters, and finally, how to bring the photograph into Photoshop, enhance it, prepare it for printing, and print it.

This course is focused on expository and creative writing. Utilizing literary excerpts, students will hone their grammar skills, perfect the paragraph structure, and develop their thesis and essay writing expertise. The creative projects will inspire imagination and encourage self-expression. Editing and revising will be stressed as integral parts of the writing process. Students will have time to work in class, but minimal amounts of homework may be required.