by Christi Mathis
CARBONDALE, Ill. — This could be the best summer imaginable for your family, thanks to Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s summer camps and programs for all ages, abilities and interests. This year’s lineup is one of the largest ever offered and includes the debut of several brand-new camp experiences.
SIU’s Conference and Scheduling Services is coordinating a wide variety of enriching, educational, fun camp experiences giving children and youths the opportunity to explore, learn, enhance their athletic skills, create unique artwork, build, discover secrets of the great outdoors, make music, design the future, soar through the skies, get their game on, saddle up, make new friends and have a great time.
Adults can take advantage of numerous options for personal and professional development and hundreds of continuing education online course options.
All new in ’22
The summer camp schedule for children in first grade through high school includes a vast array of academic, athletic, craft and music camps.
For the first time, high school participants will be able to “uncover history” during an archaeology field camp. During the SIU Gamification Camp, participants will explore virtual reality, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and podcasting. During separate sessions, junior high and high school students will bring their own stories to life through gamification.
Anyone considering a career in the medical field will want to check out “Pathways to Saluki Medicine,” a new overnight camp for younger high school students. Be sure to check out the new SIU Summer Showcase, too. It’s a new and different baseball camp being offered this year in addition to the traditional baseball camps.
Multitudes of choices
Always popular camps, including Lego/Lego Mindstorm, aviation, architecture, Esports, Challenge to Excellence and many others, are returning this summer as well.
In addition, a diverse assortment of Craft Shop art camps will feature everything from clay projects to working with fibers and drawing comic books. Numerous music camps are on tap for individuals and groups of different ages as well.
Saluki Athletics and Conference and Scheduling Services are also sponsoring an assortment of athletic camps for various sports.
Coming soon
New camps are being added all of the time, so keep watching camps.siu.edu. There, you can explore all of the SIU 2022 academic, adventure, athletic, art and music summer camp options and find online registration.
The camps are led by professionals who are experts in their fields. All camps will adhere to SIU’s policies and guidelines in response to the COVID- 19 pandemic as well as state and federal guidelines for its summer camps.
Never stop learning
SIU offers interesting opportunities to expand your horizons and learn, regardless or your age. Check out the myriad online continuing education courses, sign language interpreter courses, Saluki Gardening Workshops and a variety of other in-person and continuing education programs.
For more information about any of the Conference and Scheduling Services adult programming, visit the website, call 618-536-7751 or email conferenceservices@siu.edu.