Watch Out Monet the Campers Are Coming Through!

Chatham Week 4

     This week talented artists have graced the halls of Chatham. Taking a note from the greats like Monet, DaVinci, and Van Gogh, the Chatham kids are putting their modern spin on some fabulous art work. They are learning all about shading, coloring, and brush strokes to make their paintings that much better. The art gallery here is definitely up to par with that of any art museum. 

 

Our artists hard at work!

Investment and Financial Literacy in Oakland!

In our Investment Literacy and the Stock Market Game class, our campers are learning how the stock market works, and the differences between what makes smart or risky investments. They are also learning about the differences between buying stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. In the video above, a camper is explaining why he's "investing" in Google. Enjoy!

Perfecting Public Speaking at Somerset

Somerset - Week 4

Here at Somerset, we have a new class this week called Public Speaking and Youth Leadership taught by Alyson. The students have been working hard to improve not only their public speaking skills, but also their leadership skills. In class, students complete various activities, including warm-up games, public speaking exercises, and practice presentations. At the end of the week, students will present their speeches to an audience about a topic that they have researched. We cannot wait to see these public speakers in action!

A group of students researching topics for their presentation. 

The class working on youth leadership skills with Alyson.

Bridge Building

In Princeton's Civil Engineering class, everyone teamed up to build the strongest bridge they could, and then test to see if a car could drive across it, and how much weight it would support.  They built it with three pieces of cardboard, held together by tape and popsicle sticks, with suspension cables made out of string to hold the bridge up from the top and supports on the bottom made out of paper rolled into tubes to hold the bridge up.  The final verdict was that a car could, in fact, drive across the bridge, and that it could support 87 nuts (like nuts and bolts) before collapsing.

The Livingston Newsroom -- Live

Here in Livingston, our students are learning about video journalism. They've been practicing how to gather information on a news story, put the information into a news report, and now, they're going live. Our two news anchors worked on their first news broadcasts today where they reported on stories of their choice and recorded them! 

A report on a stray cat's wild ride!

A report on the the potential dangers of a washing machine!

Exciting Discoveries with the Short Hills Chemists!

During this week at Short Hills, the Crazy Chemworks class learns about combining different substances. They make their own discoveries by experimenting with their teacher. When the campers see the final result, they always get excited!

Ready...Set...Launch! Catapulting into a New Week At Livingston!

This week in Chemical Engineering, our campers got together to take part in a Catapult Challenge. The two teams put their heads together to design catapults that would be able to launch different objects as far as possible. The first challenge: launching a cotton ball. Our competitors readied their catapults and took their shots:

It seemed as if the boys' team would win, but as you can hear in the video, they went over their building time limit and lost a few feet in their launch. Therefore, Challenge 1 went to the girls' team!

The two teams were then given five minutes to make modifications to their catapults with a new object in mind: A metal bolt. Nervous, but excited, the teams once again got together and evaluated how they could improve on their designs. After five minutes passed, Challenge 2 began:

Check Out Round 2 Here!

This time it was a clear victory for the girls' team!

But the Catapulting Challenge had one more leg! For the final round, the teams would combine into one in order to build a tower made out of index cards:

With a lot of trial and error, the team found a way to make a tower that seemed to stand up well. They found ways to keep the layers balanced so that as they added more cards, the entire tower wouldn't collapse under the new weight. Once they finished, they were presented with their task: knock the tower down!

But as our instructor counted down, something funny happened:

Although the team was disappointed, they certainly got a good laugh out of watching the card tower fall with surprising timing! Even Counselor Kelsey couldn't help but to chuckle! Regardless of the little misfortune, our catapult engineers certainly had a fun time working together on their projects, and we can't wait to see what other projects they work on during the rest of the week!

Terrific Tuesday at Scotch Plains Week 4!

This week in 3D Printing with Mike, the designers are creating amazing 3D prints ranging from models of musical instruments to hand-drawn flowers to animals; these campers are really busy in their AM class!

A camper with her penguin.

A camper with his animal/monster creation.

A camper with her model piano.

The campers in this class are really excited for the rest of the week as they attempt to make phone cases and model boats. Although they have the option between gray and pink filament for their creations, the majority are made in gray because it glows in the dark! We are all looking forward to their larger designs which are going to be made at the end of the week.