On February 15, our School-Age Program held a Gap Camp at Vogel. Gap Camps are day camps that “fill the gap” in education and child care when Dallas ISD schools are closed for holidays. Since it was Presidents’ Day, one of our Gap Camp activities entailed allowing the kids to elect a president from among their ranks. They learned about elections and voting and had fun choosing candidates and campaigning for office.

Keeping in mind the historical implications of presidential elections, we also invited the kids to create their own artifacts to be put in a time capsule and opened in the future. It was great seeing what each of them thought was important to remember and share about life in 2016. And, bringing our focus from the past to the future, staff from Sylvan Learning Center provided an interesting and engaging robotics lesson.

Instead of being bored, stressed out or lonely on a school holiday, the 15 kids who attended our President’s Day Gap Camp enjoyed hands-on activities that engaged their minds and fed their creativity in positive ways. Programs like Gap Camp are a tremendous benefit to our community and a natural extension of Vogel’s mission.