Students from the Richmond County School System have spent the last few weeks flexing their creative muscles at an annual arts camp.
Richmond Hill Middle was the landing ground of the Richmond County School System’s 9th annual Fine Arts Summer Camp, a chance for 3rd – 8th graders to immerse themselves in art, music, dance and drama over the course of 15 days.
Students show off their skills in Broadway style
This year’s theme was Arts on Broadway, and the camp wrapped up with a closing ceremony on Friday afternoon fit for a Big Apple stage. Students performed dances for their family and friends, numbers that drew inspiration from well-known musicals including “Annie,” “The Lion King,” “The Wiz,” “Hamilton” and “MJ the Musical.”
“Research has shown that students that participate in the arts programs demonstrate increased academic success across all core subjects,” said Lynwood Holmes, RCSS Fine Arts Coordinator. “Through this camp, we aim to foster not only creativity and self-expression, but also academic growth and personal development.”
Preparation for artistic futures
The camp brought in over 160 student participants from across the district, a record breaker among the camps’ nearly decade-long history.
Two of these were Calista Peterson and Londyn Stephens.
“The dances were fun to do, and I also like doing the different themes,” said Peterson.
“What I like about this Arts on Broadway camp is the music…you can always like, do fun activities, you do really fun acts which prepare you for your future if you want to be an actor, an artist, or anything like that,” Stephens said.
Camp artwork
Beyond learning dances and exploring music and theater, campers were able to create some Broadway-themed crafts including clay sculptures and masks.
