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Summer vacation: Time to learn By Amber Fossen Ashland Daily Tidings School's out and Academy's in. Talented and gifted students from throughout the state, in addition to students from Washington and California, are spending some of their summer vacation on education. Academy kicked off this week on the Southern Oregon University campus as part of a series of summer of youth education classes offered through SOU's Youth Programs. According to Carol Jensen, director of SOU Youth Programs, the Academy - in its 22nd year - offers talented and gifted students what public schools are unable to supply. Jensen said when looking at the bell curve of student performance, there are students clustered at both the high and low ends. However, she said often times talented and gifted students are not thought of as having special needs even though their educational needs are often not met. "They get things twice as fast (as other students) and they get bored," Jensen said. "It still means their needs are not being met and it still means you need to adjust things for them to become happy, healthy adults." Academy was designed to help meet the demands of talented and gifted students - students who perform at least two years above their grade level. Throughout this week, fifth and sixth grade students have been learning how to: write and illustrate short stories and poems; design and create web pages; use forensic science to solve murder mysteries; and even design vehicles that defy both gravity and friction. Steve Sincerny, Talent Middle School applied math and science teacher, is teaching students how to build cars that move without the standard four wheels in a course called Mag Lev Cars. He said the course teaches students how electric circuits, magnets and friction relate. "It's a challenging activity where they need to develop a vehicle that will travel down a track," Sincerny explained. "The vehicles have no wheels. They are suspended by magnetic forces and travel down a magnetic track." Sincerny spent Wednesday afternoon helping students shape their "hover vehicles" which will later be tested on battery charged track. Bend resident Eli Eligertler, who was busily working on his Mag Lev car, said the experience he's had at Academy is well worth the trip. "Academy sounded interesting and the classes sounded exciting and captivating," Eligertler said. When asked to pick his favorite class, he was briefly stumped before announcing Battlefields. "It's about history. You build an army, draw maps and recreate a battle," he said, noting the battles range from World War I to Desert Storm. Jensen said that while the classes are fun and educational, the experience is also an opportunity to familiarize students with college campuses and to get them thinking about higher education. "One of the things we feel we do, is demystify the college experience," Jensen said. "It gets the kids thinking there is more out there." According to Jensen, the classes are kept to a maximum of 20 students so that kids can have one-on-one time with instructors. She said each student attending Academy selects four classes per day to attend for the week. Additional activities include Brain Bowl competitions and Oregon Cabaret Theater pageants. "We try to cover all the subject areas but we try to make it dynamic, fun and hands-on," Jensen said. "It's not seat work." The first session of Academy ends this week. However, Academy session B - and session C for seventh and eighth graders - starts Sunday and will run through June 28. Jensen said summer SOU Youth Programs don't end there. oKids College, which is geared for kids ages 9 through 13, begins July 14 with sessions running through August 15; oKonaway Nika Tillicum, a residential camp for Native American students grades fifth through tenth, runs August 16-23; oAcademia Latina, a residential camp for Hispanic and Latino students grades sixth through eighth, runs August 10-16; o and, SEA Camp sessions begin August 21 and run through August 28. For information on courses, costs (and scholarship opportunities), schedules and other summer programs log on to www.sou.edu/youth or call 552-6331. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -