Camps for Grades 4 -12
| Camps that are still open are listed first ... if a program is already full, we can put your child on a waiting list, and let you know right away if a space opens up. Call 704-687-4447 or e-mail emgoggin@uncc.edu. The grades listed are for academic year 2009 - 2010, i.e. "rising" grades. |
| Chess for Experts August 3 - 7 Grades 5 and above |
 Chess is a great workout for your mental muscles! It’s problem-solving – you have to think ahead, evaluate multiple alternatives, and anticipate consequences. You’ll improve your reasoning, memory and attention span.
Chess for Experts is for chess players who already have experience at the “Royal Game”. In this age of computers and 8-second sound bites, chess campers can concentrate on this one challenging activity for hours! Aspiring experts can hone their skills and learn advanced strategies by practicing with John Lane and other chess “addicts”. |
| Deconstructing Twilight July 27 - 31 Grades 6 - 8 |
 You must have read the Twilight series by now, and you may have wondered what root tip cells are or why vampires have a different chromosome number. In this camp, you'll study the Science in Science Fiction. Specifically, you’ll learn about blood typing, chromosome numbers, mitosis phases, imprinting, and how they are used in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. You'll write your own mystery/adventure story that of course includes some science! You’ll also study the artistic techniques to illustrate your own stories in a way that conveys an atmosphere of danger and tension. |
| Microbes, Math & Medicine July 27 - 31 Grades 8 - 10 |
 If you’re interested in research techniques - in the sciences or in medicine – you’ll want to sign up for this great new program combining both science and math. Learn through case studies how the modern researcher collects reliable data, uses statistics to analyze information, and reports the results. Get the inside story on designing a clinical trial and testing hypotheses. Learn how researchers model the spread of diseases and how their investigations benefit the world we live in. |
| Writing Project - Japan June 15 - 19 Grades 9 - 12 |
 Take a literary trip to the Far East this week to explore Manga - an exciting contemporary story-telling style rooted in Japanese mythology. Manga takes the form of a graphic novel and has permeated American culture. Take this course to learn more about Japan's vibrant language and traditions, to hone your writing skills with a National Writing Project teacher, and to illustrate your text with the help of the Camps on Campus artist. |
| Acting & Stagecraft: Swashbucklers! June 22 - 26 Grades 9 - 12 |
| Acting & Stagecraft: Myth-illogical July 20 - 24 Grades 9 - 12 |
 From acting and improvisational basics to more advanced theatrical techniques, sharpen your on-stage skills! Whatever your experience, one (or more) of our Acting and Stagecraft workshops, set in beautiful Robinson Hall in our Department of Dance and Theater, is designed just for you.
Swashbucklers! Casting call for brave heroes, damsels in distress, evil villains and pirates, noble queens and chivalrous outlaws! Whether you prefer Braveheart or Spamalot, Robin Hood or the evil Sherriff of Nottingham, the beautiful Guinevere or the sorceress Morgan le Fay, you’ll sharpen your wit, perfect your comedic timing, hone your theatrical techniques – and have a blast! And you’ll play to a full house at the Friday show. Myth-illogical! Have you always wanted to do battle with a many-headed monster? Think you’d look good in a toga or fancy you’d fit right in with the Olympian gods and goddesses? If your acting talents tend towards the classical and the heroic, or if you think you’d make a terrifying minotaur, go far back in time with us this week to practice your improvisational and script-based on-stage skills in this hysterical mythological mix-up. |
| Paleontology July 6 - 10 Grades 9 - 12 |
 Paleontologists experience the excitement of learning something completely new about life on earth millions of years ago. Today’s advanced technology allows scientists to probe the way ancient creatures moved and ate, lived and died. You can use fossil traces to study our earth’s own time-line – from the first animals with backbones, through sharks and fishes, to reptiles, dinosaurs and turtles, and all the way to modern mammals and humans. This new workshop will introduce you to the science of paleontology, which is an exciting mix of biology, geology and archeology, and uses techniques from biochemistry, mathematics and engineering. |
| The Game of Politics July 13 - 17 Grades 9 - 12 |
 Did you follow the presidential election obsessively even though you can’t vote yet? Do you want to change your school, your community, your country … even the world? Get an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at how politics works in this exciting new program. Learn through some very cool political simulation games if you have what it takes to be a successful politician, to run a winning campaign, and even if you have the skills to negotiate a peace deal. You will hone your political skills by working with these cool computer games:
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| Geometry - Geometrical Art July 27 - 31 Grades 9 - 12 |
 Make Geometry come alive in this unique collaboration between Math and Art! You will investigate the influences of Art on Geometry in different cultures and historical times, in architecture, in tilings and tessellations, and in movements like Cubism and Abstract Art. Use the cool Geometer's Sketchpad software to help understand and appreciate the uses of symmetry, to study and visualize geometrical relationships, and to create your own fascinating designs and patterns. |
| Buggy Science - June 15 - 19 Grades 4 - 6 |
 Get the Entomology bug! (Entomology means “the study of insects”.) Learn about buggy life - where they live, what they eat, how they communicate, and how they change during their lives. During this week of inquiry-based learning, children will be introduced to a broad range of biological, environmental, and ecological topics. Campers will use computers for research, write a report, and present their findings. We will explore a pond, take a nature hike, and become Buggy Scientists! |
| What's Wrong in Your World? Write it - June 22 - 26 Grades 4 - 6 |
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| MATH + ART = (FUN)2 July 6 - 10 Grades 4 - 6 |
 Sharpen up your mental muscles and give both halves of your brain a workout! Spend half the day solving problems and puzzles involving grade-appropriate math concepts like fractions, measurements, geometrical properties … and the other half bringing your ideas to reality with origami, tangrams, tilings, tessellations, perspective and more. And you’ll find that drawing can be a big help in solving math problems, and math is a big help in art – so why not combine them? It’s “elementary, my dear Watson!” |
| A Fungus Among Us with Botanical Illustrations July 13 - 17 Grades 4 - 6 |
 Meet the Fascinating Fungus in this exciting new camp for Scientists and Nature Lovers. Fungi are not exactly plants and not exactly animals; they eat but have no stomachs; and without them, almost all our plants would die. Some, like penicillin, can cure diseases; others cause diseases like Athlete’s Foot. Truffles are so hard to find that pigs are trained to sniff them out underground – they cost $475.00 for an ounce at Dean and Deluca! Learn the Biology of the Fungus, research your discoveries and write them up – and illustrate your work with help from the Camps on Campus Artist. |
| Journey Inside Your Computer July 20 - 24 Grades 5 - 6 |
 Explore the insides of computers! Hard drives, memory, video cards, sound cards, network components, motherboards, power supplies and more will be covered - and uncovered, for students to handle and (in some cases) dismantle. Safety and safe handling of computer components will be stressed. Small teams of students will assemble a computer from its base components, turn the computer on, and install a new operating system to make a fully functional machine. |
| Chess and Board Games July 20 - 24 Grades 4 - 6 |
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In Chess and Board Games, beginning Chess players can spend half a day learning and practicing the Royal Game of Chess with National Master John Lane (who works with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools during the academic year). The other half of the day will be devoted to the mental challenge of other board and card games like backgammon and checkers. It’s a fun workout for your brain cells! |
| Science: Solve the Fossil Puzzle July 27 - 31 Grades 4 - 6 |
 In this exciting new camp for young scientists, you will learn what fossils are, how they are formed, how to tell how old they are, and how they tell the story of our life on earth. Paleontologists are the scientists who study ancient life through the fossilized traces of the ancient world. Using bones and teeth or even an entire skeleton, the Camps on Campus Paleontology Team can travel from 10,000 to 3.5 BILLION years into the past to hang out with wooly mammoths and huge dinosaurs! |
| Musical Theater June 15 - 19 Grades 7 - 10 |
| Musical Theater August 3 - 7 Grades 4 - 6 |
 Once again the curtain is going up! Campers will receive age-appropriate instruction in acting, singing, choreography and stage presence. Given the outline of a story, they will write their own lines, rehearse and finally perform the musical for family and friends in the beautiful Robinson Theater for the Friday Show. They will use music from classic musicals as well as popular modern songs. Beginning vocalists, actors/actresses and dancers will be welcomed while the more experienced will be challenged. Acting through the medium of song will develop teamwork and spark your creative potential! |
| IT: Exploring Math & Technology through Culture & Art June 15- 19 Grades 6 - 8 |
  Is it a math problem involving complicated topics like ratios and proportions, angles and iterations, geometric sequences, circles and logarithmic spirals … or is it a design for cornrow braids? The answer is - BOTH! In this new, high-tech IT camp, learn how math plays a leading role in design, from African hair-braiding and Native American beadwork to ancient Mayan temples, Break dancing, Graffiti, and Latino drumming. (Be warned, though – after this camp, you will NEVER AGAIN get away with complaining “but Math is boring”.) |
| Mathem - ART - ics July 13 - 17 Grades 6 - 8 |
 Make math come alive, combining the search for pattern and design in the mathematical world with the artist’s point of view. Learn about some of the most famous mathematicians and their discoveries. Get a workout for your brain cells by solving grade-appropriate mathematical puzzles and problems, and explore the connections between mathematics and art through origami, tilings and tessellations, 3-dimensional drawings, geometry, proportion and perspective. |
| Science: Astronomy August 3 - 7 Grades 6 - 8 |
 What planet is big enough to hold 1300 earths and has 16 moons? What's the difference between a meteor and a meteorite? Learn what the Mars rover has found on the “Red Planet”, the latest news from the Space Station, and all about Geology as on the planets and moons of our solar system. Young scientists should prepare to boldly go ... to infinity and beyond ... and learn how knowledge of astronomy, physics and geology can stretch your imagination as far as millions of light years into deepest space (and maybe even farther!). |
| Move to the Beat July 13 - 17 Grades 6 - 9 |
 So you think you can dance? Even if you think you can’t (yet), you’re welcome here, as long as you have energy and interest! Explore many forms of dance, including contemporary, hip hop, partner dances … Express your jazzy self through African and Caribbean rhythms, let your abstract side come through with minimalist modern music, learn some cool new moves with Tiffany, who also leads the popular Musical Theater camps. Grow as a dancer and as a person, and have fun! You’ll star in the Friday show too, so make sure your fan club can attend! |
| MED Camp June 22 - 26 Grades 8 - 9 |
| MED Camp July 6 - 10 Grades 6 - 7 |
 Get first hand experience with professionals in the medical field. In MEDCamp, students investigate how to treat sports injuries with athletic trainers, research laboratory tests with a pathologist, invent medicine with a pharmacist, videoconference with top medical universities such as UNC Chapel Hill and Duke, experience work as a nurse in a clinic, advocate for health issues in the community and save a life using CPR and first aid. This comprehensive hands-on program emphasizes the important role of science in health-related careers and incorporates exciting demonstrations, medical terminology and health career instruction. MEDCamp offers site visits to local health facilities, guest speakers from local medical professionals as well as tours of the UNC Charlotte College of Health and Human Services, including Nursing, Exercise Science and Athletic Training. |
| Engineering and Technology July 20 - 24 Grades 7 - 9 |
| Engineering and Technology July 27 - 31 Grades 10 - 12 |
 This intensive week-long introduction to engineering and engineering technology is part of a National Science Foundation project and the NCJETS (North Carolina Junior Engineering and Technology Society) program. It will provide exciting hands-on activities in a wide range of engineering and technology disciplines that are based on an actual freshman engineering course. Campers will work in teams in a variety of design and competition events, culminating in a showcase at the end of the week. |
| CSI - Campus July 8 - 10 Grades 8 - 10 |
 Become a crime scene investigator (note to parents: it’s NOT a real crime!) A crime scene analyst collects and processes evidence like prints, footwear and tire impressions, firearms evidence, blood and controlled substances, hair, fibers, and gunshot residue. You will reconstruct the crime scene, assemble the evidence for trial, and present your case to a jury as lawyers and expert witnesses. Issues involving the nature of evidence will be explored, as well as following the chain of evidence, drawing inferences from physical data, and trial techniques. |
| Engineering Lab -Coding and Cryptology August 3 - 7 Grades 9 - 12 |
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Get a hands-on introduction to mechanical design and robotics! Mechanical engineers use programmable logic controllers to drive electro-mechanical systems (a.k.a.“robots”). Students in this innovative Engineering Lab are given a design challenge and a set of tools, and must design and create a model robot to perform the required tasks. Coding and Cryptology: The Mathematics of Secret Codes Explore the mathematics of cryptology by devising, enciphering and deciphering codes. Learn about the activities of cryptographers (people who write and solve secret codes, some of them in our Department of Software and Information systems here at UNC Charlotte), and get an introduction to the mathematics of cryptosystems. Use topics like prime numbers, factors, modular arithmetic and equivalency to investigate different methods of encoding and decoding secret information. |
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College-minded rising juniors and seniors should check out the residential Aspire! program too - Engineering & Technology, Health, NanoScience, Journalism, Drama and IT. |
Engineering Lab