BARB BARRETT/The Luminary Kevin Bobak and Brynlee Williams enjoy the VEX Robotics class during the Foundation Fun Camp offered in June at Hughesville High School.

HUGHESVILLE – For the third consecutive year, the East Lycoming Education Foundation has offered a variety of activity classes for two weeks during June. All students in the East Lycoming School District were able to sign up for summer Foundation Fun Camp at the high school.

The first week was from June 10 through June 14 and two hour classes with qualified instructors were scheduled from 8 to 10 a.m. or from 10 to noon. A second week was scheduled from June 17 to June 21.

Foundation member Geneva Peck was excited about the new cookie camp this year and a Taste of Italy. Art classes had a “new twist” by adding cake decorating this year.

Over 225 kids from the district registered for the activities according to Peck. Students from kindergarten through grade 12 could participate for the free classes provided through the Education Foundation. Registration took place in May.

A wide variety of camp activities were offered and directed to specific grade levels. There were some tech courses for the older kids and music classes for younger grades. Many of the activities were hands-on with lots of movement, liveliness and creativity to make it very engaging for the students.

BARB BARRETT/The Luminary The Lego Robot Games activity was very popular during the two week sessions offered at East Lycoming Foundation’s Summer Camp.

Board member, Donna Gavitt said funds were raised throughout the year. “Summer camp is completely funded by the Foundation,” she said. “There is no charge to the students.” The members volunteered their time to organize the classes and facilitators.

Two of the most popular ones offered this year were the VEX Robotics and the Lego Robot games whose four sessions filled up rather quickly. A diverse and wide range of choices kept the students interested, and they all learned something new as explained by Gavitt who gave a tour.

Younger grades were involved with Elementary STEM camp, a Junie B. Jones Character camp, Music Magic and Cookie Camp. Older grades were able to choose from painting and drawing classes, cake decorating, woodworking, and coding for problem solvers.

Katie Buynak taught the cake decorating which was new this year, and students were able to decorate a cake from start to finish. They learned how to do piping, transfers, layering and decorating. Rebecca Roberts who took the class said she decorated an ocean theme cake. “This is all new to me,” she said.

Everyone was able to bake and decorate their own cake according to Buynak who enjoys cake decorating as a hobby. They used the cafeteria to bake their cakes and students learned to use molds and color. “We melted marshmallows with powdered sugar to make flowers,” said Madison Kiess, age 11. During the first week, the children made cakes for Father’s Day. Each cake had a butter cream transfer for the top.

Vivian Casselberry took the class during the second week and she said this was her favorite because she loves to bake at home. “I bake a lot,” she said and watches “Cupcake Wars” and “Nailed It”, two television cooking shows. She added that she uses recipes from her great grandmother. “We keep them (recipes) in a box and get them out once in a while. For Christmas we like to make her filbert cookies.”

In the VEX Robotics class two girls were able to build an elephant according to instructor David Weigle who recently was hired as the teacher in the high school’s new innovation center. They designed it, built it and programmed the elephant to move using the VEX IQ robotics system. The class offered the basics for programming plus incorporating engineering and design principles according to Weigle.

The East Lycoming Education Foundation was formed in 2016 and became a new funding stream for the school district.