Our 2013 Enrichment Classes
Classes involve ACTIVE PARTICIPATION with a variety of daily projects and group activities. Instructors are specially chosen for their unique abilities to make learning come alive. Average class size is 15 participants. Campers are enrolled in four classes.
Change a digital photograph into a beautiful and inspiring work of art; create personalized postcards; superimpose yourself (digitally) into a place where you have never been but always wanted to visit; explore a premium software that makes all things possible and some things look impossible. Alter and transform digital photography on a computer, then print your work. If you have a digital camera, bring it to class. If not, a camera will be provided.
And the Grammy Goes To . . .
Enjoy playing a musical instrument and/or singing? Do you dream of being able to record in a studio and create your own CD? Learn how to use Audacity, a free sound recording and editing program. Record and master your performance, then burn it to a CD. Collaborate with classmates by helping with mic setup and studio operations, or by contributing your voice or instrument on each other’s songs. If you wish to sing to a popular song and have the karaoke CD, bring it with you. A few acoustic guitars and keyboards will be provided.
Dark Knights, Blazing Bishops, Raging Rooks--These names of championship teams indicate the thrills found on the battlegrounds of chess boards. Learn the basics of chess, from setting up the board to essential techniques and attack and defense strategies. Add moves like “en passant” and “castling”. Experienced players will move to more advanced tactics. P. S. Girls, this isn’t just a “guy” game---the mighty queen is the most powerful piece on the board!
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Sample new foods and whip up a delicious variety of new snacks, appetizers, entrees and desserts. Impress your family and friends as you become a culinary wizard! This class will also cover topics of food preparation and presentation, menu planning, kitchen safety and table manners.
Engineering: Rise to New Heights!
Start thinking like an engineer, and build the future! Discover what makes the tallest towers stand, how bridges span incredible distances, and why physics and geometry are important to everyday structures. You and your classmates will conquer daily structural challenges through a combination of design techniques, imagination, and engineering skills. Just ask the ancient pyramid builders—engineers rule!
Did you ever want to play your favorite songs so all your friends could listen at once? Put on the headphones in the Ferrum College radio station, lean into the microphone, and discover the talents and skills it takes to be a radio DJ. You’ll be running the broadcast radio mixing console, practicing microphone techniques, and putting together your own radio show. You’ll even have a chance to record an advertisement with your voice.
GeoTECH
“X” marks the spot—NOT! Today’s treasure hiders and hunters have thrown away their vellum maps and now bounce signals off satellites to find the gold. Learn to operate handheld GPS devices, then head out for games of Geocaching, a real-world outdoor treasure hunting challenge. Hide geocaches for fellow students, locate their hidden containers, and share experiences online. There is a good mix of fieldwork and computer applications including mapping and exploring new technologies.
Get sorted! Enter the classroom of Harry Potter, and experience the education of the boy wizard with Ferrum College’s own internationally recognized Harry Potter expert. Study for your Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.s) exams in subject areas such as Charms, History of Magic, Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. First years only!
Hogwarts upperclassmen do have their privileges. FCSEC repeaters may return to the classroom of Harry Potter, and experience the education of the boy wizard with Ferrum College’s own internationally recognized Harry Potter expert. Returning students work toward completion of the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Test, studying such subjects as Care of Magical Creatures, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Divination. Also try out for the Quidditch team.
You know about global warming. Part of the solution is low-impact living, and you’ll love the feel of it. Get your hands dirty, your feet wet, and try your hand at down-to-earth sustainability. You’ll grow organic food, turn food into soil, raise worms, identify and count stream bugs to monitor stream health, calculate your carbon footprint, and learn the truth about recycling. The Lorax speaks for the trees. Will you?
The year is 1800. A 30-mile trip takes an entire day. John Adams is president, but you have never seen his image or heard his voice. You need real skills to keep your family warm and fed. Step back in time at Ferrum College’s Blue Ridge Farm Museum, an 1800 living history farmstead, for hands-on training in oxen driving, open hearth cooking, cabin building, gardening, blacksmithing, and other tasks. Learn two different skills each day in a one-of-a kind setting.
Movie Making “Family Style”
Unleash your inner movie director! Discover how to make movies using photos and videos with Windows Moviemaker. Better yet, you provide the pictures and video! Bring photos and video clips from home on a pin drive and make a home movie for your family or friends. Piece together photos and video footage from vacations, holiday gatherings, birthday parties—don’t forget those embarrassing kindergarten pictures. Add effects, sound, and narration, and you’ll have a DVD masterpiece you’ll enjoy for years to come.
Develop acting techniques and gain confidence in performing onstage. Learn the fundamentals of voice projection and articulation, teamwork, stage directions and use of props as you prepare a performance for camp friends for Friday evening. Daily warm-up activities and fast-paced theatre games add to the fun.
Head to the woods to challenge yourself on the Ferrum College Ropes Course! Spend the first two days on the low ropes learning about yourself and explore how we interact with others. Then head up into the trees for personal and team challenges on the high ropes course cumulating in a 500 foot-long zip line! Cap off the week with time on the climbing wall and rappelling tower.