Every summer in July, Speer Academy hosts a Pride Summer Bootcamp for students in the surrounding neighborhoods from kindergarten through eighth grade. The camp is a combination of athletic skills training and STEM-focused education to help decrease the amount of fitness and knowledge loss that can occur during the summer break between school years.

Charles Brantley, founding athletic director of summer activities, shared what a typical day looked like for campers: “The kids came in and we had them do some workouts and warmups before transitioning them into sports training. After they got the techniques down, the campers played games to test their abilities. Later, they went to the classroom to learn curriculum that would prepare them for the next school year.”

Campers, elementary and middle school students aged 5-14, had exposure to a high school campus, academic classes in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, plus team sports for the three-week camp. In addition to the regular camp hours (9am to 3pm), parents were given the option of before-camp and after-camp supervision. The summer boot camp provided daily healthy lunches and snacks, and even breakfast to campers participating in before-camp.

Charles added, “The program is beneficial to these kids because they get exposure to young people from high schoolers to college graduates, who are a great example to look up to, going down the right path.”