After months of planning, Camp Interactive took eight leaders and 28 students to Jay Peak Ski and Snowboard Resort in Jay, Vermont from Sunday, April 13th to Friday, April 18th, 2014. Our fearless leaders included Tom O'Connell and Whitney Schumacher from ICO; Trey Greene, Pedro Jerez, Donette Newyear and Kevin Carew-Bynoe from Camp Interactive; and Jade Harriell and Ashlyn Razzo from Uncommon Collegiate.
Some highlights from the week are below:
We stayed in beautiful condos from Sunday April 13-Friday April 18 at Jay Peak, cooking our own dinner and starting the week by reviewing our technology goals for the week to create Android applications using MIT's AppInventor. After a short tech briefing, students got to know one another better with some fun ice breakers. We were treated with special guests like technology entrepreneur, Homer Horowitz, a sports and adventure photographer who has worked with Camp Interactive for many years. After lunch on Monday, we drove everyone up a short hill to the mountain and picked up our gear and lift tickets before meeting our ski and snowboard instructors, many of which have also built strong relationships with Camp Interactive over the years. During an afternoon of 75 degree spring skiing, one group advanced to the lifts while the rest of our students progressed swiftly at the Magic Carpet lift under the guidance of six instructors. After the lifts closed, and we showered and ate, there was a short demonstration of AppInventor's capabilities, and students practiced building two apps each using directions and resources from the website.
Tuesday, students continued to build leadership after breakfast lead by Jade and Donette, then heard from Eric Tuchscherer, a programmer and technology entrepreneur based in Washington who has started many technology ventures after teaching himself how to code. After lunch, we headed to the mountain, where conditions had deteriorated and rain was already falling. Some tough weather did challenge the students and a few had to leave the mountain early but expert WFR-trained certified leader Tom O'Connell assessed any potential injuries and reviewed with the ski patrol to make sure everyone was ok. With students still in high spirits at the end of the day, we completed a brainstorming protocol before dinner and had drawings of 10 screens and background functions of student apps by the end of the night, which students presented to one another for praise and constructive suggestions.
On Wednesday, students built spaghetti towers during a fun leadership program before hearing from an app programming and design team, who heard 'elevator pitches' from each group and gave constructive suggestions for each group to consider about their apps. After lunch, students headed back out on the mountain and were greeted by six inches of new snow and true below-freezing winter weather with great conditions.
On Thursday, students continued their morning leadership program and heard from another entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker before having lunch and heading out onto the mountain for another gorgeous day. Nearly all of the students were out on the lifts today with our instructors and a few groups even hit their first black diamond before returning gear and heading back to the condos. After dinner, tech groups frantically raced to finish their apps and practice presentations. At 9:30 pm, teams presented and gave one another feedback on their apps, which had all improved immensely during the week. The two winning teams in the app 'competition' will be announced after presentation review and will be able to present their apps to Noodle, an education technology company. Students packed their suitcases, cleaned their condos, and passed out for the night.
Friday: Everyone moved out of our condos and headed back to the Bronx and Brooklyn. Great trip!