Summer Plans

Curious about what we do in the summer? Check out our grant proposal for our Summer Arts Camp. Emily wrote this and all I can say is that she is very gifted and im amazed at her vision.

The Spencer Perkins Center (SPC) Summer Arts Enrichment Camp is an eight-week program for youth grades kindergarten through seventh. Camp is held on the grounds of the Perkins Center on Robinson Street in West Jackson. The center includes a clubhouse, two full-length basketball courts, a baseball field, our youth garden, a volleyball area, and a playground. The cost of camp is $35.00 per week per child. We offer full and partial scholarships to qualifying individuals, as well as family discounts.

SPC desires to enroll youth from the immediate area, as there is much need around us. However each year there seems to be a great balance of children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. A handful of affluent families deeply value our program and continue to tell others about it, but we are also intentional about holding spaces for new and returning campers whose families can’t afford tuition. We offer full and partial scholarships to those families depending on their ability to contribute. The mix of economic classes has proved a positive experience for youth. Children so often lack the stereotypes that many adults project, and tend to accept others and intermingle freely. Youth have learned valuable social skills, as well as the ability to judge others on character and personality.
Each summer college students come from across the country to become summer interns at the Perkins Center. In exchange for serving as counselors to our youth, interns receive a weekly food stipend as well as a $2,000.00 scholarship toward college upon completion of the summer. We strive to draw a diverse group of young interns, male and female, who are passionate. Our belief and experience is that this passion and diversity will make a lasting impression on our youth. We also run what we call our Junior Internship Program, where high school students who’ve come up through our programs, are given positions of leadership. When given responsibility and trust, our Junior Interns tend to blossom and rise to the occasion. They act as role models to youth, coming from the same community that they do, and give campers a goal to reach for. Junior Interns are then paired with college interns during academic time and afternoon activities, and tend to look up to and learn from the college interns. Junior Interns continue to return year after year, remaining steady figures in their students’ lives. The foundation pays Junior Interns a stipend every other week.
Everyday of summer camp students split up by grade level and attend two hours of academics in assigned classrooms. The average student to teacher ratio is 3-1. SPC takes academics very seriously and attempts to get students at or above grade level by the end of the summer. We offer individual tutoring as well as addressing the core subjects of math, language arts, spelling, writing and history. Teacher teams complete a lesson plan each week and follow a list of grade-appropriate objectives. SPC works with Jackson Public Schools to help children complete their mandatory summer reading projects. Each class takes a weekly trip to the library to conduct research, check out books, or attend activities. Students also spend time in the computer lab twice a week during academics. After class time campers and interns attend the JPS lunch program, followed by a period of rest and snack. Students will then have the opportunity to participate in our proposed art enrichment courses in the afternoon. Students will again split up into assigned age-appropriate groups of eight. College and Junior interns will be responsible for teaching one enrichment course for the entirety of the summer based on their skills and interests. Students will attend each enrichment course once per week, totaling four different mandatory courses each week. Interns will create a course outline and timeline for all eight weeks during orientation, before camp begins. "Enrichment teams” of interns will be responsible for scheduling at least one professional guest teacher throughout the summer. The enrichment courses include digital photography and film editing, Piano/guitar and performance, baking and nutrition, and painting and sketching.

Digital Photography and Film Editing

Digital photography not only is the prominent photo style of the present and future, but it is affordable, offering endless outlets for creativity. Equipping youth with the ability to capture moments and experiences in their own style is a wonderful form of empowerment. All summer campers will participate in photography class once a week. Lesson plans will include basic framing, timeliness in taking a shot, still life, action, flash and lighting. Each lesson will be altered to an age-appropriate level. By the end of eight weeks each child will have both a physical and a DVD portfolio of all the work they completed throughout the summer. The older group of children (5th-7th grades) will have the option of taking our film and editing class. Here they will learn the basics of filming and various filming styles, on top of digital photography. By the end of eight weeks these youth will have completed an entire short film as a group. We will utilize different forms of media to instruct youth, including film clips, Internet research, and book exerts. Computers and printers will be essential in conducting this course, as they will be used for creating photo slideshows, burning DVD’s, editing film, printing out photos for take home portfolios, as well as storing, altering, and processing photos.

Piano/Guitar Performance

Youth will have the choice of attending either piano or guitar lessons once a week. We have an extremely talented, passionate and musical staff to head this course up. Our belief is that by giving youth the opportunity to get the basics of a musical instrument down, their confidence, talent, and creativity will be drawn out. The door will be open and the foundation set for them to pursuit musical interests in the future. We will also incorporate song writing, poetry and vocal performance into this course. By the end of eight weeks, each student will have written and performed an original song.

Baking and Nutrition

Mississippi currently has the highest rate of obesity for adults and high school students in the country, along with the highest rate of deaths due to heart disease. We also hold the highest rate of diagnosed diabetes among adults in the U.S., as well as having considerable problems with type 2 diabetes in youth and young adults (as a results of high rates of childhood obesity). Each SPC student will be required to attend introduction to baking and nutrition once a week. Our goal is to expose students to healthy eating habits and choices, and to increase their confidence, knowledge and enjoyment of preparing food. We will utilize fresh organic herbs, vegetables and fruit from our youth-run garden, when available, for recipes. Each student will have opportunities to work in the garden and take produce home to their families. We will compost all of our biodegradable scraps and teach about conservation and recycling. Youth will make the connection between where their food comes from, how to prepare it, and that healthy food tastes great. With instruction, children will prepare a different dish each week and have the opportunity to take a sample home to their families. We will host two guests including a Kenyan baker and a native Mississippi culinary chef. By the end of eight weeks students will show their knowledge by creating an ingredient list, following a recipe, and creating a dish of their choice together as a group.

Painting and Sketching

Self-expression through painting and drawing is another wonderful venue for youth. Many times young people have the desire and talent to do art, but are unable to develop their skills due to a lack of formal training. With an impassioned team of interns and community volunteers, students will learn the basics of sketching, shading and dimension, as well as painting with acrylics. By the end of eight weeks of class each student will have completed an acrylic painting on canvas to take home, as well as a sketchbook of all their summer work.

All materials that we are requesting including computers, printers, cameras, baking equipment, paint supplies and musical instruments, will be used weekly at our after school program which runs Monday through Friday from August to May. We will also continue to offer courses and utilize equipment in our future summer art camps.
JMPF believes that poverty is affected by cultural influences, oppressive societal structures, and personal responsibility. We feel responsible to expose at-risk youth to experiences beyond their “four walls.” Cycles of generational poverty often occur because those involved cannot see that another world is possible, or that there are tangible ways to achieve and develop aspirations. By offering Jackson’s youth opportunities to take part in an array of arts enrichment (along with providing academic instruction and committed counselors), we believe they will gain enlightenment, discipline, and vision for their lives as future participating members of society.