This summer, Molloy offered rising 6th, 7th, and 8th graders the opportunity to attend fun, academic courses led by Molloy faculty. During two separate sessions, the first ever Summer Enrichment Camps introduced students to real-life, relevant lessons, while simultaneously allowing them to meet Molloy teachers and make new friends!
Courses included: Video Creation and Production; Programming and Game Development; ENERGY, A STEAM-based Approach; Web Design, Robotics, and AI; and Chess.
Mr. Joe Touzin, the Chess instructor, taught campers the fundamentals of the game, including basic strategy and simple endgames. After learning the game, students then participated in tournaments! Mr. Touzin shared that “at the end of the first session, the students said that they enjoyed the class, and one student said that he now thinks he will be able to beat his dad in chess!”
Mr. Alex Van Winkel, who instructed the Computer Science courses, taught his students to code on a website called “REPLIT,” teaching them the basics of the computer language “Python.” Campers also flew a drone and coded their own video game. In terms of his teaching style, Mr. Van Winkel shares, “Since I ran the camp in a way that promoted 'fun,’ but also keeping the rules still somewhat strict, the students actually learned a lot during those days. Since the time-per-day working on Computer Science was much more than regular classes, they learned a lot in a very short time.”
Instructor of ENERGY, physics teacher Mr. Chris Autera, included multiple fun activities in his course, such as building balloon rockets, making egg catching devices, and circuiting Christmas lights. “We studied different forms of energy, including potential, kinetic, electrical, thermal, sound, and light,” says Mr. Autera, continuing, “We started the week with building a room-wide Rube Goldberg machine (think chain reaction, "Mousetrap" type set up), which the kids enjoyed!” Mr. Brian Klimas, teacher of Video Creation and Production, taught the basics of Adobe Photoshop. He said his students were a pleasure to work with, and that “hopefully some of them got exposed to a potential career option.”
Principal Dr. Darius Penikas, creator of the program, shares, “We were thrilled to welcome middle school students from across Queens to this year’s Enrichment Camp. Campers engaged in activities across topics such as computer science, chess, STEAM, and video production. It provided students with an opportunity to take a deep dive into topics that interest them and develop skills that will serve them well in the future.” Molloy is excited to continue the Enrichment program, and we hope to see new faces next year! If you would like to inquire about our Summer Enrichment Camp, please call 718-441-2100 or email [email protected].