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Free Summer Camps Aim to Reduce Learning Loss for Local Children

Posted on June 26, 2017

Johnstown, PA (June 26,2017) For many students, summer is not only a break from school, it’s a break from learning. Some even experience a loss of reading and math skills over the summer months. Summer learning loss is one of the most significant causes of the achievement gap between lower and higher income children and may even contribute to dropout rates.

To help address the issue, The Learning Lamp will offer six weeks of FREE summer camp beginning June 26 and continuing through August 17. Summer camp is available for students in grades K-8 in the Moxham, Oakhurst and Coopersdale neighborhoods of Johnstown. The camps are an extension of The Learning Lamp’s After School Outreach Program, which serves the same neighborhoods during the school year. Sessions will be filled with fun, engaging activities and a field trip centered on “STEAM” (science, technology, engineering, arts and design, and mathematics) education. Outreach summer camps are made possible through generous grants from the Lockheed Martin Foundation and the Jacob Fend Foundation, and the United Way of the Laurel Highlands.

  • Camps in Moxham will take place June 26-29 and July 3-7 (off July 4) at the Park Avenue United Methodist Church
  • Coopersdale camps will run July 17-20 and July 24-27 in the Community Room in Building 19 of the Johnstown Housing Authority Coopersdale complex
  • Camps in Oakhurst will be held August 7-10 and August 14-17 at the Community Center of the Johnstown Housing Authority Oakhurst complex

Camps in Moxham and Oakhurst run Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. while camps in Coopersdale run Monday through Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. Kids are welcome to attend any camp without prior registration, but parents must sign a consent form prior to a child’s participating in the program.

Toward the end of each two-week series of camps, children will visit the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh. The science center is dedicated to education, entertaining and inspiring youth through interactive programs in science, sports and technology.

Summer learning opportunities are especially critical for children who are at increased risk of school failure.

Research shows that when children enter kindergarten, a middle-income child already has a six-month lead over a child from a lower-income household because of limited access to early reading materials and a quality preschool education. Regardless of learning that occurs from September to June, that achievement gap tends to widen over the summer.

For details on the Learning Lamp’s free summer camp programs, contact 814-262-0732 extension 228 or visit thelearninglamp.org.

The Learning Lamp is a nonprofit organization with a mission to engage all children in the support they need to succeed. We deliver high quality programs that are affordable and accessible to families of all income levels. The Learning Lamp served 35,525 children from 62 school districts and 39 non-public and private schools and other organizations in 17 Pennsylvania counties and one county in Maryland in 2016.

Our programs include: one-to-one tutoring; before/after school programs; portable classrooms aimed at building math and science skills; alternative education programs for at-risk students; evidence-based prevention programs; online learning and credit recovery; SAT preparation; educationally-focused child care; literacy-based preschool programs; and grant writing and project consulting for schools.

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