Camp Gets Students Ready for School

With just one week left before school starts, J.C. Booth Middle is already abuzz with students as sixth graders flock to Camp Warrior.

The camp provides an in-depth orientation, tackling some of the common issues students new to middle school worry about the most: opening lockers, changing classes, finding rooms, and making friends.

The 2011 sixth grade class is the first to participate in the camp, which was developed by counselors Terese Benefield and Lynda Manwearing. About 260 of the school’s approximately 320 sixth graders signed up to participate in one of the three half day camps held July 26, 27 and 28.

“We had done shadowing in the past, but that didn’t give us enough time with the students,” says Benefield. “We have six feeder elementary schools coming into Booth. We mixed the students up over the three days so that they could get know others outside of their elementary school.”

Campers were divided into four tribes, Apalachee, Oconee, Muskogee and Cherokee. The tribal groups participated in a scavenger hunt to help them become familiar with the school, worked collaboratively on tasks to build relationships, practiced opening lockers, and learned from other students about how to be successful in middle school.

Booth’s 8th grade student ambassadors in the Warrior Blazer program assisted with the camp. Eighth grader Madeline Hervey, who helped check students in on the first day, thinks the camp is a great way to ease anxiety during the first week of school.

“I wish we could have had this when I started sixth grade. Although students worry about their lockers and changing classes, those things come easily after the first day. The biggest worry is making friends and who to sit with at lunch. This camp is a great opportunity for them to get a head start on those things,” says Madeline.

Thanks to Booth’s business partners, the expenses of the camp were covered by donations. Each camper received a T-shirt plus school supplies that are recommended for all students. The school’s business partners that helped sponsor the camp are AJAKO, ClubZ! In-Home Tutoring, Huntington Learning Center, Mathnasium, Mahaffey Orthodontics, Artworks on the Square, McPherson Orthodontics, Walmart, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, and Camden Apartments.