Seven-year-old Olivia Israel has brainstormed the perfect solution to putting up with her 1-year-old sister’s incessant pinching: The Sister Pinch Notification Center.
With the help of Daffodil Valley Elementary music teacher Matt Smeller, Israel created a box out of an empty Bisquick hot chocolate container, which can detect her sister’s brainwaves and allow Israel to move out of the way pre-pinching.
The Sister Pinch Notification Center doesn’t really work, of course, but it’s just one of the tasks at Daffodil Valley’s Camp Invention that has made Israel’s creative juices flow.
That kind of enthusiasm, especially from a girl, makes camp director and Daffodil Valley gifted program teacher Nancy Lenihan smile. Out of the 66 students who attended the July 27-31 camp, only 14 were girls, a number Lenihan hopes to increase by hiring counselors such as Bonney Lake High School senior and science whiz Courtney Bartlett.
“I’d like to see people encouraging girls to enjoy science more,” Lenihan said.
Bartlett, a former student of Lenihan’s who hopes to become a university science professor, agreed.
“I think it’s important for kids to have a creative outlet (when it comes to science),” Bartlett said.
“Getting creative with science” is the reoccurring theme for Camp Invention, which is a national camp funded locally by United States Patent and Trademark Office, St. Andrews Catholic Church and the Sumner Education Foundation. The latter two organizations provided money for supplies and scholarships for students who couldn’t afford the enrollment fee. Lenihan estimated that while about 65 percent of the campers were from within the Sumner School District, the rest came from as far as Federal Way and Tacoma.
“One grandma drives her grandchildren here every day,” Lenihan said. “It’s encouraging to see that they like it so much.”
Each day at the camp, the students, who were broken into groups by grade level, visited four different stations or “modules.” A Sumner School District teacher and a high school-aged counselor accompanied each group.
At one module, Daffodil Valley science specialist Jacqueline Krezelak taught the children about the science behind superheroes and their superpowers. On the second-to-last day of camp, Krezelak came decked out in a “Science Girl” cape and bright purple wig.
“We’ve covered solids, liquids, reactionary time,” Krezelak said, adding that the students had each created their own superhero and were working on comics about them. “They’re really liking it.”
At another module, children were having a water fight in the 100-plus degree temperature. The idea was to create a shield and stay the driest. The driest team earned the most points, which went toward purchasing an item to make a sled. On the last day, the campers held an obstacle-course race with the sled: The younger grades had to place a monkey on the sled and have it run the obstacle course by pulling or pushing it; the older grades had to have a team member ride on the sled.
“Some kids have trouble coming up with wild and crazy ideas,” said Smeller, who was running the invention room where Israel came up with the Sister Pinch Notification Center. “They’re used to the structure of school.”
Lenihan agreed.
“These kids don’t like taking risks,” she said. “(Camp Invention) teaches them to not get frustrated (and) they do get creative, they do think it through. It’s a win-win. The kids win and we (teachers) have fun doing it.”
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