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2007
Summer Residential Program for High-Achieving Youngsters
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| Wittenberg University has achieved national recognition for excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. In keeping with the University’s mission to “develop the whole person”, our WISE Academic Camp for high-achieving middle school students emphasizes three important dimensions:
Academic * Social * Recreational
Academic enrichment is the hallmark of the WISE Academic Camp, now in our 21st season. We have assembled an outstanding Wittenberg faculty team that is experienced with middle school students. Each camper attends five classes daily and chooses one discipline as a “major”. We have carefully designed our residential program to include structured recreational and social programs. Our experienced professional and student staff strives to create a supportive community so that each camper has the opportunity to develop independence and self-reliance. Key contributors to the residential experience are our Wittenberg Student Counselors/Teaching Assistants, selected from our most talented undergraduates. They are with the campers throughout the days and nights of the program. These mentor/friends give the “real scoop” on college life. Camper evaluations regularly point to the counselors as the most remembered feature of the week. Supervision of the residential component is of particular importance. Counselors report to a professional Head Counselor who stays throughout each night in the residence hall. Our Activities Coordinator, a middle school teacher, plans the recreational component, combining non-intense sports, group games, special evening activities and periods for individual relaxation. The Registered Nurse, on-call 24 hours a day, monitors the medical needs of the campers. In case of emergency, Wittenberg accesses the services of Mercy Medical Center, a comprehensive facility only a few blocks from campus. |
Classes - Each camper takes all five classes daily, choosing one as a "major."
BIOLOGY The Company We Keep: Hissing Cockroach Society
Last year we emphasized the adaptive strategies of this fearsome-looking but docile native of Madagascar. This year we’ll investigate their social traits. “Social life” for a cockroach consists of attractive and repulsive behaviors, photoperiod reversals, and temperature effects. “Acquaintances” consist of fellow roaches plus mites that feed on their saliva (yum!) plus protozoa that aid theirdigestion (more yum!). As behavioral biologists, we’ll conduct our study with an array of procedures that include phase contrast microscopy, DNA and protein analysis and extraction, and fungus isolation. “Majors” will conduct additional tests to ascertain the enzyme activity of proteins and the presence of sugar residues, useful in species identification.
CHEMISTRY
They Put What in My Pizza?
Nowadays almost every item we pluck from the supermarket shelf comes with a label detailing the levels of various nutrients. Can we trust these labels, or are they primarily public relations gimmicks? In true scientific fashion, we’ll see for ourselves by conducting experiments. In our labs we’ll analyze a selection of foods for their fat, sugar, and salt contents. We’ll consider the results in discussing healthy choices about what we choose to eat—or not to eat. All students will participate in computer analysis of data and the presentation of experimental results. “Majors” will conduct an advanced experiment in food analysis.
DRAMA
Acting As a Team Player
Dr. Corwin Georges again takes center stage as he has done for two decades in the WISE program. He delights in awakening youngsters to their potential for expression and the rewards of working with others to produce new and surprising forms. He will again lead our campers in ensemble techniques, using a combination of proven and newly devised exercises. The goal is an active understanding that a good stage outcome depends on all participants making their associates look good. The ensemble process promotes communication in a highly practical way and instills confidence in the ability to speak and to perform in front of others. “Majors” will devise a skit of their own for presentation.
CREATIVE WRITING
What Rhymes with "Orange"?
We’ll begin by building our own poetry books and then we’ll fill them with poems of our own devising. Our themes will be the other WISE classes that we’ll be taking: dreams, food, making pretend—yes, even cockroaches. In the process we’ll consider some of the devices that poets use to give the most vivid expression to thoughts and feelings: metaphor, simile, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. “Majors” will experiment with some of the more sophisticated uses of these and with selected poetic forms.
PSYCHOLOGY The Dreamworld Behind My Eyes
Bizarre and confused as they may seem, dreams—and the sleep cycle in which they occur—are an important research area for psychologists. We’ll join them by asking such questions as: What do dreams tell us about ourselves? What connections do they have with events in our lives? What brain activities are observable during various stages of sleep, including dreaming? Why are sleep and dreaming important for our well-being? We will also explore the connection between dreaming/sleeping and the functions of memory and learning. “Majors” will examine dream analysis in greater depth and will try their hand at research activities relating to memory.
For more information:
phone: (937) 327-7050 or (800) 677-7558
e-mail: bmackey@wittenberg.edu
FAX: (937) 327-7014
