The pencils and notebooks have retired for the summer, but students are heading back to school – for fun.
By: Elaine Worden
nbsp; Kneeling in the hallway of Crossroads North Middle School, 12-year-old Greg Herzog is huffing and puffing into a dark green balloon.
Camp counselor Dustin Biri, kneeling beside Greg, was meticulously wrapping tape sticky-side-up around a small car that Greg and a few other students had created out of K’nex, a plastic rod and connector building system.
Mr. Biri then took the inflated balloon from Greg, making sure not to let any air escape, and stuck it on top of the layer of tape so that the opening of the balloon was facing the rear of the car.
Mr. Biri whisked his hand away from the balloon, letting the air shoot out and propelling the tiny car down the hallway before veering to the left and crashing into a row of blue lockers.
Greg was attending STAR Camp, one of the many options at South Brunswick Community Education Summer Camp. Community Education offers a plethora of camps for all grades with a variety of themes, from travel to drama to sports. Brochures are mailed to area residents toward the end of the school year.
The camps are divided by age and each of the camps are held at one of the schools in South Brunswick. At Crossroads North, there were 80 students enrolled in various camps, a mixture of grades four through eight.
STAR, which stands for Science and Technology Adventure Researchers, lets students explore science and perform experiments. The camp, for sixth- through eighth-graders, meets from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., but campers have the option to switch over to Adventure Camp, a sports-oriented program, after noon.
STAR camps ran for two sessions, from June 27 to July 1 and July 5 to July 15. However, there are other camp sessions that run through August.
Session tuition ranges from $70 to $300, depending on the type of camp selected.
On Friday, the STAR campers were learning about physics in motion, said STAR Camp Coordinator Kulsum Farooqui.
Together, Ms. Farooqui and Mr. Biri instruct and help the campers with their projects whenever needed.
On the first day of STAR camp, the students participated in their own crime scene investigation, which included testing blood, which was fake, of course.
Mixing their own "oobleck", a non-Newtonian fluid made popular by the Dr. Suess book "Bartholomew and the Oobleck, proved to be a fun and gooey experiment for the campers.
"It could be a solid or a liquid and it’s made with water and cornstarch," said Greg.
The mixture of polymers, Ms. Farooqui explained, is a solid when sitting untouched, but when it’s scooped up into a hand it becomes a liquid.
The campers also learned how to make ice cream without an ice-cream maker. Merely using coffee cans, heavy cream, sugar, vanilla and a little elbow grease, the campers were able to whip up a tasty dessert.
K’nex, a favorite of the students, even led them to build a working pulley system and a scale.
"We talk about function, what are the machines and how they help us," said Ms. Farooqui.
Ms. Farooqui, a teacher at Sayerville Middle School, is a first-year participant with STAR camp, said she really enjoys being able to work in a hands-on environment.
Mr. Biri, who had helped out with BASE camp at Brooks Crossing in previous years, says he likes working with the campers.
"The kids they’re so much fun. I love these guys, and they teach me a lot, too," he said. "It’s pretty much letting them be creative and seeing what works."
The campers began constructing their cars Thursday afternoon and were finishing them up so that they could race one another.
They test them and then decide what modifications are needed to make them faster.
"It’s really just about science and it’s really fun," said Rahul Ravipati, age 11. "I like astrology, and when I grow up I want to be a scientist."
Rahul was sitting at a table working on K’nex cars with 13-year-old Daniel Waltzer.
"Before we were making the cars, we made random inventions," said Daniel. Daniel pointed to a few posters that he helped design, which were hanging on the chalkboard in the classroom.
A group of three students, Sydney Jew and Rachel Shaffer, both 10, and Nick Wereszczak, 11, discovered that if they gave their car a little push, it helped it to accelerate and go faster.
Once back inside the classroom, the trio decided the car needed a little tweaking.
"We’re trying to fit the back wheel on somehow," said Rachel.
"Oh, I know how, Rachel," said Sydney, leaning over the car and reaching into a bucket full of K’nex.
"We need the red piece to attach to this," said Nick, pointed to the front of the car.
"Dustin, can you come over and help put the wheels on our car?" Rachel asked.
Mr. Biri walked over and helped Rachel attach the wheels to the car.
On the other side of the classroom, a group of students waited somewhat patiently for Mr. Biri to arrive with tape replenishment.
After re-wrapping their tape, the students went back into the hallway to test out their cars again.
Greg blew up his balloon again, placing it on top of the car.
"Five, four, three, two, one go!" he shouted.
But the car stood still.
Greg hadn’t completely let go of the balloon.
Smiling, Greg took deflated green piece of rubber off the car, took a deep breath and began blowing it up.
Soon it would be time for their morning snack, and the campers started getting ready to go eat. Afterward, they would be testing acids and bases together, using boiled red cabbages.
Ms. Farooqui and Mr. Biri noted that they were impressed with how excited the students became when it was time to work on a project.
"I think the hands-on thing really does it for them," said Ms. Farooqui.