Left photo: Norm Holcomb. Right photo: Gina Simmons. |
Camp Inquire, an enrichment day camp for area high ability students, has operated at the Lake Campus for the past twenty-two years and has developed over those years a reputation for offering unique experiences for its students with innovative hands-on learning in a wide variety of areas.
Pictured above left is Norm Holcomb of New Bremen, a Camp Inquire instructor almost since the camp’s inception 22 years ago. Holcomb, who teaches Rockets I and Advanced Rockets for the Camp, is shown helping students in their efforts to construct and fly a rocket. Rockets is the only class Norm has taught during his 20 plus years at Camp Inquire. He says, “When I was student teaching 32 years ago, one of my students gave me a catalog about rockets, and I have been ‘hooked’ ever since.” Holcomb, who has taught 7th and 8th grade science at Marion Local for 32 years, has an 8th grade section called “Astronomy Space Unit.” This year one of his former students, Jamie Uppenkamp of Maria Stein, volunteered to help Holcomb in his rockets classes.
Also pictured is Camp Inquire Instructor Gina Simmons of Convoy (right) as she and other “goggled” students examine clues to solve a murder mystery in her class titled “Crime Scene Investigations.” Simmons, who also is teaching “Building a Better Tomorrow” and “Bienviendos a Espanol,” is in her third year as a Camp Inquire instructor. She says, “I just love teaching. The kids are so awesome. They love the camp and want to do their best.” Simmons is a graduate of Crestview High School and Ball State University from which she earned a bachelor’s of science degree in elementary education.
Says Camp Inquire Director Nedra Mielke, “Things are going very smoothly this year at the Camp. We have some wonderful youngsters to work with and several new and exciting classes that seem to be going very well. All our classes fit well with the philosophy I have for teaching high ability students in a summer enrichment day camp setting. Our goals are to promote problem-solving and creative and critical thinking.”
Classes range from “War Between the States” to “Order in the Court!”, “Rocket I and Advanced Rockets,” “Crazy Dogs, Outrageous Cats, Etc.,” and “Crime Scene Investigations,” and are taught by many long-time and enthusiastic teachers year after year. Instructors have extensive experience working with high ability students in the local school districts in which they are employed.
The camp also attracts new instructors each year that are newly graduated teachers from the area. Wright State University Lake Campus students who have received their bachelor’s degrees in education and are pursuing careers as teachers in the local school systems have become camp instructors. The camp also attracts former Camp Inquire students who have themselves become Camp Inquire instructors.
Instructors, directors, and students of the Camp are not the only ones who are enthusiastic about Camp Inquire. Parents as well are excited. Their praises range from “What I like most is my child is having fun while he is learning. Camp Inquire instructors put a lot of effort into making the classes enjoyable,” to “I so enjoy talking to my child about his experiences. The excitement in his voice tells me that we made the right decision to send him to this Camp.”
Camp Inquire was implemented as a result of a determination that high ability students in rural areas were not being offered sufficient opportunities in gifted education. In the summer of 1981 a two-week camp, one week for first through fourth grades and the second week for fifth through eighth, was begun with 100 students. The camp now attracts more than 125 students each of the five weeks it is in operation.
Director Mielke also works part-time in the Wapakoneta City school system gifted education program. Ron Green, an instructor in the Celina Intermediate School system, is Camp Assistant Director. He was an instructor for Camp Inquire before assuming the assistant directorship of the camp.
