While known for the opportunities it provides Santa Barbara Unified students throughout the school year, Santa Barbara Education Foundation (SBEF) also offers programs for students during the summer, including camps that explore music and STEAM.
“We want to create camps that act as a connecting bridge to the performing arts and STEAM classes,” said Katie Szopa, SBEF programs manager.
The camp offerings for music include strings, drumline, and the long-running Nick Rail Summer Band Camp. Junior high students can also learn to code, build robots and drones, or dabble in the culinary arts through baking or creating Mediterranean delights from scratch in the STEAM Camp.
The overall goal is to expose students to music, engineering, and culinary arts in a fun and supportive environment that encourages kids to pursue these areas later in their academic careers.
“Then, perhaps these same students will sign up for band and culinary classes at the secondary level, or even apply to the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy after spending the summer building and coding robots,” said Szopa.
Nick Rail Summer Band Camp has been welcoming aspiring young musicians since 1989. The four-week program provides students entering fourth through ninth grades an opportunity to try out an instrument for the first time, or continue their musical learning on an instrument they may already play at school. Regardless of level, all the young musicians perform in a concert at the end of camp.
Although there is a cost to the camps, SBEF works to ensure that the enrichment opportunities are accessible to all students by fundraising throughout the year to provide scholarships. Typically, about half of the enrolled campers receive a scholarship to participate.
Deadline for registration is June 8. Scholarships are available. For more information and to register, visit sbefoundation.org.
Santa Barbara Education Foundation promotes private support of Santa Barbara’s public education system in 19 schools. Learn more at www.santabarbaraeducation.org.