By Lisa Ciota, Education Guide, Exhibit Host, CAC 2020 Docent Class Trainee
Exploring the environment … completing hands-on activities … having fun … sitting around the campfire. Typical summer camp experiences, right? Can we still do such in a pandemic? Well, for the CAC’s 2020 summer camps, the answer was a resounding YES!
By necessity, summer camps needed to look different this year. So, the CAC’s education department reimagined them for the virtual environment. This involved repurposing classroom activities for campers to do at home or in their neighborhood, developing educational videos about architecture, and leveraging online design tools.
The result was six different camps for kids ages 8 to 14, each with a special theme: Architecture 1.0 & 2.0, Parks & Playgrounds, Design Your Neighborhood 1.0 & 2.0 and Girls Build! Tiny Homes 1.0 & 2.0. A total of 89 campers from 14 states and Canada participated in eight camp sessions over a four week period. (Architecture 1.0 and Girls Build! were each conducted twice.)
“Ari is LOVING this class. I am so impressed with how you and your team pivoted to the online platform. At least for Ari, who is very tactile and hands on, it’s very hard to attend to Zoom classes — and he’s been really excited about yours, coupled with the daily activities.” – Hilary, parent
A key to the success of these camps was the CAC backpack, full of materials, sent to each camper. These backpacks contained reading materials, art supplies, and workbooks with self-guided activities that encouraged campers to see their neighborhoods in new ways. These activities culminated in a project where campers developed a model of something that could improve how people live, work, or play in their own community. The kids’ models encompassed a wide range of possibilities … from new nature centers, parks, and playgrounds … to affordable housing and the repurposing of existing, or development of new, buildings to serve the needs of their communities.
“Gavin has thoroughly enjoyed his week with CAC camp. It’s given him an additional opportunity to expand his skillset, be creative and have fun at the same time. Likewise, his dad has even learned a tip or too, even being an architect! Hopefully, the kids will have a chance to participate via a live camp experience next year.” – Brandy, parent
To help guide the kids, there were daily campfire chats – or rather Zoom calls – led by a CAC staff member. Supporting this pioneering effort were education guides—Karen Bohr, Kevin Griebenow, Laurie Hammel, Carol Muskin, Chuck Pierret and Lisa Ciota—who helped coach campers, hosted small group discussions, monitored chat rooms, and oversaw camper engagement. Education guide support was especially important as virtual camps launched the week the CAC reduced staff. Education guides quickly adapted to the new format, becoming adept at handling technical matters (i.e., use of Zoom’s audio/video/chat features), while still interacting with the campers.
The CAC’s education programs fills a real need to engage and inspire students in architecture, engineering, city planning, and problem solving. With virtual programs like summer camp, the CAC is raising its profile nationally, and even internationally, and reaching students from anywhere and everywhere. This new way of working with students is something education guides stand ready and willing to do.
Our daughters Mya and Alyssa participated in the Architecture camp 2.0 and truly enjoyed it! They said it was fun, engaging, and enjoyed the hands-on part of it. The amount and level of work was perfect as they were busy every day getting their sketches and models done. Alyssa said she enjoyed walking through our neighborhood and looking at buildings with a different eye. Mya said we should go out more and enjoy our beautiful buildings and open spaces in Chicago. They also enjoyed taking photos of the buildings to reuse, putting all their ideas together, designing and building their models. I was amazed by how much they got into building. Furthermore, the materials and instruction provided were great as was the virtual delivery this year, it all turned out great! – Margarita, parent
*I was fascinated with all the work that was done — and went into — these camps. Thanks for sharing, Lisa. I loved learning about kids learning about their neighborhoods.
Thanks Lisa for giving this shout out to our fabulous summer camps!