Elizabeth McPartland ’08 helps (l to r) Brendan, Sophie, and Ryan, preschoolers in the St. Columbkille Summer Program, with an arts and crafts project in a Carney Hall classroom on June 27. The camp is held at Boston College in partnership with Boston Catholic Schools Connect, a school-community-university collaborative that provides programming to help students develop academically and socially.
From June through August, more than 180 children from the greater Boston area and its suburbs participate in academic enrichment and recreation activities on campus, ranging from classroom exercises centered on weekly themes to swims at the Rec Plex pool, soccer games, and campus tours. Ten Boston College undergraduate and graduate students work alongside program teachers to assist campers in the classroom and on field trips.
This is the summer program’s fourth year at Boston College. “The kids love it,” says Jen DeNisco ’92, program director. “They feel like they are a part of something bigger here on campus.”