A Los Altos Town Crier Publication
January 2016
toOff CampOff Campm a g a z i n em a g a z i n e
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Free to ImagineBeyond the classroom, theater and arts programs nurture offbeat creativity
Local LandCity-run camps introduceyoungsters to their own parks
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Los Altos Town Crier138 Main St., Los Altos, CA 94022
948-9000losaltosonline.com
Magazine Editor Eliza Ridgeway
Designer Mary Watanabe
Writers Eliza Ridgeway
Ramya Krishna
Nikki Bryant
Matthew Wu
Copy Editors Colleen Schick
Mary Larsen
Photographer Megan V. Winslow
Sales Staff Janice Torrecampo
Ad Services Director Chris Redden
Ad Services Assistant Leverne Cornelius
Production Staff Mary Watanabe
Marilyn Winans
Publisher Paul Nyberg
Associate Publisher Howard Bischoff
Human Resources Director Liz Nyberg
Receptionist Peggy Hennessee
Cover photo: The city of Los Altos’ Camp Shoup draws chil-dren outside not just in the summer, but for special seasonal editions during mid-year school breaks.PHOTO COURTESY OF LOS ALTOS RECREATION AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
Magazine Staf f SSSS
Circulation: 16,500. Mailed directly to households in Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and select areas of Mountain View. Hundreds of subscribers receive the Town Crier in neighboring communities as well as out of state. The Town Crier can be purchased at newsstands in Los Altos, Mountain View and Palo Alto.
Upcoming 2016 MagazinesFamily Spotlight
Publishes: Feb. 24
Living in Los AltosPublishes: March 30
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© Los Altos Town Crier Company Inc., 2016.All Rights Reserved.
Off to Camp is published once a year. For advertising information,
email Janice Torrecampo at [email protected]. For editorial information,
email Eliza Ridgeway at [email protected].
Off CamptotoOff Campm a g a z i n em a g a z i n e
Year-round dramaTheater programs
draw thespians, tailors and carpenters.
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City campsLos Altos’ camps combine tradition and trends on local land.
Page 4
Summer skillsSummer experiences build coping skills needed throughout the year.
Page 10
The power of artLocal programs celebrate the imagination in every
young person.
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By Eliza RidgewayStaff Writer/[email protected]
Boys and girls in Los Altos pick up hammers and saws – and rolling pins, laptops and soccer
cleats – as part of the city’s year-round camp programming. They revive lost arts like carpentry and deepen their familiarity with the oft-forgotten red-wood haunts in the city’s own back-yard. Although Los Altos Recreation and Community Services camps ca-ter directly to young people in terms of programming and theme, their timing is aimed at meeting parents’ needs – particularly when it comes to finding a fun, safe place during holi-day breaks when adults are still in the office but schools
are closed. Thus emerged the Thanksgiving, mid-winter and spring break camps the city now offers in addition to
TRAINING CAMP
SUMMER CAMPS [2016]Sunken Diamond
The Stanford Baseball School (Ages 7-12) ($220)The Stanford Baseball School (9am-12:15pm) is an opportunity to learn individual skills, baseball fundamentals and team strategy at the beauti-ful and newly renovated Sunken Diamond on Stanford Campus. Players will be grouped by age, ability and prior experience, and will be taught outfi eld play, infi eld play, pitching, rundowns, base running, sliding, dou-ble plays and much more.
The Stanford Baseball Games Camp (Ages 7-12) ($220)The Stanford Games Camp (12:45pm-4pm) is an opportunity to utilize skills learned in the Baseball school, in real life game situations. Teams consisting of 9 players will be grouped together with a coach for the entire week. 50% of each session is devoted to games, and the other 50% to hitting in batting cages and viewing Baseball videos. Games will be played on Sunken Diamond, our turf fi eld, and adjoining grass fi elds.
TOGETHER ($440)***** PLEASE NOTE *****
The School and Games Camps are TWO SEPARATE CAMPS, but are designed TO BE TAKEN TOGETHER. These two camps are for ages 7-12. There is a Supervised Lunch Break. Kids may purchase
lunch (pay at camp) or bring lunch from home.
Summer 2016 DatesWEEK 1: JUNE 13-17 School/GamesWEEK 2: JUNE 20-24 School/GamesWEEK 3: JULY 18-24 School/Games
WHEN REGISTERING ONLINE: You may choose M-TH option for both camps. Read selections carefully.To register or for more information: www.stanfordbaseballcamp.com
RETURNHOME
CITY CAMPS
Los Altos camps mix tradition with trends
COURTESY OF LOS ALTOS RECREATION AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
Camp Shoup took an athletics-focused model and built an outdoor- based program full of traditional camp games as well as sports.
Off to Camp | January 27, 2016 | Page 5
CITY CAMPS
traditional summer fare. “Parents are looking for a safe place for their kids to go, but camps also have a lot of different benefits – campers are getting outside, they’re meeting new kids outside of their school circle and they’re trying new things they might not be able to try in school,” said Los Altos recreation analyst Nora Haley. Camp Shoup, the city’s most tradi-tional daycamp, features activities fa-miliar across generations, with crafts and Capture the Flag. Ice cream making, sing-alongs and archery are among the most-cited summer high-lights, according to Haley. And mid-year editions of the camp revise to suit the season. Simon Says morphs into Santa Says for the holiday camps, while Sardines – the reverse hide-and-seek game – becomes Yeti Hunt. “Steal the Bacon became Steal the Turkey – that’s not much change, but it makes all the difference to a 5-year-old,” said Zach Silva, Los Altos recreation director. According to Silva, this year’s Thanksgiving edition of Camp Shoup was a gamble with timing because it’s an outdoor camp.
“It rained one of the days and the temperature didn’t get past 55 F, but we got no complaints – the kids wanted to go outside,” he said. In addition to Camp Shoup, the city runs a camp at Red-wood Grove with activities ranging from leaf painting and
COURTESY OF LOS ALTOS RECREATION AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
The city-run camp in Redwood Grove introduces children to nature in their own backyard, incorporating botany into art and games.
Continued on Page 6
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tie-dye to science projects and nature journals. The city contracts with outside providers to add other programs, including the Young Chefs Academy, Robotics and Mad Science. Recreation supervisor Peggy Ford said the city’s range of offerings comes down to where among the city’s spaces they can cram new programs. They look to popular activi-ties in other cities for new ideas as well as following larger recreation trends. “We now have more camps that are focused, including one for making apps, one for woodworking, one for skate boarding and one for shooting film,” Haley said. Upcoming camps include LEGO-focused, girl-pow-ered pre-engineering for the 7-and-under set and a series of art camps offered through the Community School of Music and Arts covering everything from Fairies, Frogs and Flutterbys to Art from the Sea. The city is scheduled to release details of its spring and summer classes and camps in the recreation brochure published in late Febru-ary, including more than a dozen weeklong spring-break options. A diverse mix of leaders craft the camp experience, ranging from decades-long local educators who are also on break to campers returning as high school and col-lege-aged leaders. Their enthusiasm and experience helps structure the day-to-day planning of each camp.
“I let the staff plan 90 percent of the camp, because they play well off each other and come up with new ideas since they’ve gone back to school and done different pro-grams,” Silva said. “For a lot of (the younger counselors), it is their first job, and that’s another good service for the city – that we do have work experience for teenagers who are 16. And the (campers’) parents often already know them.” Staff members choose counselor names like Sunshine, Bumblebee or Meatball. Through the course of the sum-mer, trying to sleuth out real-world identities is part of the fun for campers. “When kids run into their camp leaders downtown, they get so excited – I equate it to running into a rock star,” Ford said. For more information, visit losaltosca.gov/recreation. ◆
CITY CAMPS
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COURTESY OF LOS ALTOS RECREATION AND COMMUNITY SERVICES
As camp trends evolve over time, the city of Los Altos has started offering more specialized sessions.
Off to Camp | January 27, 2016 | Page 7
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Coach Ken Soccer Academy Summer Camps 2016
Winter Break Camp: 2/15-2/19
Spring Break Camp: 4/15-199 am-1 pm for kids 4-12 years$120 for 2 days, $160 for 3 days$200 for 4 days & 250 for 5 daysSibling discounts available
Location TBD: Mountain View or Los AltosSign up at www.coachkensoccer.com starting January
City of Los Altos Summer CampsLocation: Heritage Oaks Park, Los Altos
Half Day (sign up code 111263) 9 am-1 pm for kids 4-12 years6/20-24, 627-7/1, 7/11-157/25-29, 8/1-5, 8/8-12About $200 (differs for residents and non residents)
Full Day (sign up code 111268)9 am-4pm for kids 6-12 years6/20-24, 7/11-15, 8/1-5, 8/8-12About $320 (differs for residents and non residents)
Save these dates.Sign up at www.losaltosrecreation.org starting in March 2016.
YEAR-ROUND DRAMA
By Ramya KrishnaTown Crier Editorial Intern
Peninsula Youth Theatre’s summer theater camps focus on more than just the final show, according to 14-year-old Mountain View High School student
Olivia Cobb. “I always liked the shop a lot,” Cobb said of the be-hind-the-scenes work that goes into a production. Cobb has attended PYT’s summer camps every year since age 6. She now interns with the organization and collaborates with campers on shop work. According to PYT Executive Director Karen Simpson, the troupe offers three types of summer camps. In Theatre in the Park, a maximum of 30 camp participants spend two weeks making sets, costumes and props, and then stage an outdoor show the last evening of camp. The first session of Theatre in the Park ran in 1999. That year, there were eight camps at one location – now there are more than 30 camps at multiple locations in
Silicon Valley. Weekly classes, which run year-round, are held at PYT’s studio in Mountain View.
Summer theater camps build skills, confidence
COURTESY OF PENINSULA YOUTH THEATRE
Theater camp stretches beyond the stage to offer opportunities for set design and costume-making.
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YEAR-ROUND DRAMA
Children ages 5-14 can attend PYT’s summer camps. “One of the things that’s great about our camps is that many of our participants saw a show when they were preschoolers,” said Katie O’Bryon Champlin, director of PYT’s School of Performing Arts. She added that many of the children become PYT in-terns in high school, like Cobb. Echoing Champlin, Cobb explained that at first “a lot of the kids haven’t done theater before,” but PYT’s sum-mer camps enable them to experience a broad range of theater activities over the years. Other PYT summer camps include the weeklong Mu-sical Theatre Camp, in which participants put together, dance to and act out a song, with a showcase on the final day of camp. In Mini Camp, a weeklong, half-day per-forming arts camp geared to children ages 5-6, a max-imum of 20 campers help make costumes and sets and perform for their parents. Champlin said the summer offers different activities for different age groups. Younger children often perform fairy tales, she noted, and teenagers sometimes perform comedies. Simpson described typical camp activities as ranging from theater games to set design, costume and prop creation, and learning how to perform. According to Cobb, a typical day starts in the morning with theater games. Then, participants eat a snack and al-ternate between rehearsing the show and working on cos-tumes and props.
Cobb noted how the camps build confidence in partic-ipants. “One girl specifically was super nervous the first day and even started crying when we were doing a name game,” she said. “By the end of the camp, she start-ed talking louder and getting way more involved in the games and ended up having a lot of fun.” In fact, Cobb added, one of the skills she picked up from the camps she attended was “learning to be confi-dent on stage.” Cobb still performs with PYT. Camps run 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. weekdays from June through August at various locations. Costs range from $250 to $400. For more information, visit pytnet.org. ◆
COURTESY OF PENINSULA YOUTH THEATRE
Local performing arts groups such as Peninsula Youth Theatre recruit young thespians year-round.
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By Nikki Bryant
W hen I was a child, the last day of summer camp was the beginning of a yearlong waiting period that I would struggle through until the following
summer when camp arrived again. I would keep my spir-its high throughout the year by remembering the camp experiences that made me happy. When I was having trouble waking up and getting ready for school, I would sing camp’s morning songs and have a new spring in my step. When I fought with a friend, I would remember what my counselor taught me about friendship and apologize. When I received a disappoint-ing grade in school, I would remember how I became the fastest rider at cloverleaf barrels on horseback and realize that one failure did not define me. The adult youth worker in me now understands that as a child, I was practicing coping skills that I learned at summer camp. As adults, our lives are full of stress, competition and responsibility. Our ability to handle these life challeng-es successfully comes from various coping skills we’ve learned through experience. We may connect with our family or loved ones by going for a hike together. We may plan a vacation to take a break from the rut of our daily routines. We may take a class or learn a new hobby as a way to explore our passion and make new friends. Youth, however, are still in the process of learning cop-ing skills and oftentimes the regular stress and structure of their daily lives do not provide the space to explore and develop these skills. In fact, this environment can inhib-it learning. School culture can be highly competitive and structured, pressuring youth to outperform peers in order to ensure their future. Social groups also likely comprise the same individuals
SUMMER SKILLS
Camp offers tool kit for later life
COURTESY OF HIDDEN VILLA
Camp memories provide a buffer throughout the year.
Off to Camp | January 27, 2016 | Page 11
over many years and provide little room for self-explo-ration. The ideal environment for fostering individual learning is one that is low in stress and avoids putting the learner in a state where his or her reaction is to fight, flee or freeze. Summer camp is an opportunity for children and teens to get out of the stress and routine of their daily lives. It provides an environment where young people can chal-lenge their comfort zones in a safe, supportive environ-ment while under the guidance of relatable mentors. As director of Hidden Villa’s Summer Camp, I feel for-tunate to observe our family of youth grow, whether we work with these youth for one summer or for 10. I watch how each activity a camper chooses at Hidden Villa is not only fun, but also an opportunity to explore his or her self-identity and build confidence. I see campers listening to new friends share their personal trials and aspirations, and observe how that inspires a self-reflection that is hard to attain among their regular peers. And most important, I experience how the challenges occurring at camp (home-sickness, arguments with fellow campers, climbing the high ropes course) provide opportunities to develop and practice coping skills that should help carry them through life’s challenges. As an industry, summer camp was created to provide
See SKILLS, continued on Page 14
SUMMER SKILLS
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By Matthew WuTown Crier Editorial Intern
For many students, summer days – filled with possibility and the freedom from school bells and grueling classroom
schedules – are the highlight of the year. And at local arts camps, creativity and imagination can bloom on a different scale than during the academic grind. With the constant movement and activity in a student’s everyday life, it can be difficult to find an area of artistic focus. The Community School of Music and Arts, founded in Mountain View in 1968, aims to provide the sense of security that enables art students to nurture their creative capabilities. Linda Covello, director at CSMA, said the relaxed na-ture of the school gives potential art students the opportu-nity to explore their imaginations without pressure or ex-pectations from outside sources. Such an environment, she
added, encourages them to shed any initial nervousness they might have in using and honing their artistic talents. “When the kids walk in on that first day, they might be a bit hesitant on what to expect or what to do,” she said. “But
Local summer camps stimulate creativity via art
COURTESY OF COMMUNITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND ARTS
Exploring art in a nonschool setting can free the imagination.
THE POWER OF ART
Off to Camp | January 27, 2016 | Page 13
THE POWER OF ART
by the third day, they’re engaged and can end up taking home much more than they might’ve thought originally.” Covello said the school’s teachers and volunteers – many of whom are professional artists themselves – foster the calm environment. Camp classes like Broadway Bound give students the chance to explore their acting abilities, allowing them to sing and dance centerstage in Broadway numbers along-side fellow classmates. Others, such as The Book of Me, focus on a more personal aspect, with students us-ing drawings or paintings to illustrate the stories of their unique experiences. “(The teachers) have real passion in their work,” Cov-ello said. “They really look to give as much art experience as possible to the students.” Covello said she hopes the experience of the school will inspire students to use the skills they learn from art and apply them to their everyday lives. “They’re really going to progress,” she said. “And be-ing able to think outside the box will allow them an appre-ciation of their own skills and talents as well.” Art camps provide a platform for students to explore everything from drawing to film. “That’s the thing with art,” Covello said. “It lets stu-dents learn and progress.” The Community School of Music and Arts is located at 230 San Antonio Circle, Mountain View. For more information, visit arts4all.org.
The importance of inclusion The experience of exploring artistic skills is not limit-ed to students who have already developed their talents. Foothills Congregational Church hosts a weeklong Children’s Art Camp in Los Altos that features activities such as music, culinary and visual arts, and movement. Students who attend are typically in grades K-6, with sev-eral teen volunteers and teachers providing assistance and teaching courses. Melanie Weiner, associate minister at Foothills Con-gregational, said the church emphasizes inclusion to pro-mote a welcoming feeling for all who join. Such inclusion is seen in activities such as the camp’s cooking course, where students make everything from cookies to sand-wiches to share with other members of the camp. “By building community, it helps us bond with one an-other and create a sense of friendship,” Weiner said. “And that sense of welcome is one of the most important as-pects of our camp.” Foothills Congregational Church is located at 461 Orange Ave., Los Altos. For more information, visit foothills-church.org/arts-camp.
Diversity and opportunity Being an artist is not limited to one single art form or style. The wide range of subjects available to explore
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All Levels, Ages 7-16, M-F9AM-Noon, June 6-Aug. 12
@PaloAltoH.S.
creativity enables potential art students to be adventurous with their choices of which art form to pursue. Students at the Los Altos art studio Drawn2Art are ex-posed to a variety of artistic themes, as well as flexibility in their class schedule. Classes like the camp’s Cartoon Clay Workshop allow students to paint and sculpt a 3-dimensional figure of their favorite cartoon characters using a variety of techniques to bring characters to life. Students also can use their observational skills to draw realistic portraits of the human figure by using tools like charcoal, pastels or crayons in the camp’s Figure Drawing
and Portraiture class. “We try to vary the artistic workshops each year to provide students the opportunity to try new things,” said Robin Sulic, Drawn2Art director. “We want to ensure that each student comes away from our classes having learned something new.” Sulic said she tries to focus on the individual aspect of each student, allowing for an educational experience that is personalized for each student. She added that students can improve their artistic skills by practicing at home, and she encourages any potential student to try and find inspi-ration in their everyday lives. Drawn2Art is located at 949 Fremont Ave, Los Altos. For more information, visit kidsartclasses.com/los-altos. ◆
THE POWER OF ART
Continued from Page 13
youth with life skills that could not be attained in school. Today, in the wake of teen suicides and school stress, sum-mer camps like Hidden Villa’s are here for much the same reason – to support the growth of the whole child, the grit, the resiliency. I’m constantly reminded of the saying that it takes a village to raise a child. I’m looking forward to helping Hidden Villa be a key part of that village experience in the summer of 2016 and beyond. Nikki Bryant is director Hidden Villa’s Summer Camp. For more information, visit hiddenvilla.org. ◆
SKILLS, continued from Page 11
COURTESY OF HIDDEN VILLA
Skills learned at camp can counteract stress long term.
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