The LOCC youth academy, which is sponsored in part by the Lake Oconee Community Church, is gearing up to launch its third year of summer academies. The purpose of these academies are to provide educational, cultural and historical enrichment activities for school children, ages 6-12 in Greene and Putnam counties. The children are selected for the program on a ‘first come, first-serve basis’ and the program is offered at no cost to the children or their families.

There are four acadamies (or camps) — one each for Greene and Union Point, which started May 29 and two in Putnam, which started June 4.  Each camp is scheduled for four weeks and includes presentations and field trips.  Some of the areas of presentation include building trades, civics, entrepreneurship, American history, health and nutrition and pet care and training.  Field trips in past years have included trips to the Georgia Aquarium, UGA Riding Tour, and Ocmulgee National Forest in Macon and Dr. Robert Morgan’s office in Sparta.

Avis Williams, pastor of LOCC Community Transformation, runs the summer youth program.

However, community volunteers, LOCC church members and interns from several colleges work together to present topics and fields trips to insure each student is properly engaged and motoviated.  

The interns play a critical role for the academies as they are involved in the initial planning and execution of the curriculum and l serve as the site coordinators for each of the four camps.   In addition to bringing  their area of ‘expertise/studies’  to the programs, they also fulfill requirement of their degree. Typically the interns have an internship or community service requirement associated with their targeted degree. In some cases internships can lead to employment opportunities.  

The interns who are assisting LOCC with the Youth Academies this year are:  J.C. Albirtton, sophomore focused on international studies at Berry College; Alexis Anderson, psychology major and a recent graduate of UGA; Kimberly Kennedy majoring in early childhood education and a senior at UGA and Shondrea Thornton who is a sophomore at Columbia University, New York, N.Y. – majoring in sociology and African-American studies. The interns are hosted by select families of the Lake Oconee Community Church, however the church as a whole comes together to make sure the interns get to know the  Lake Oconee area and the wonderful people who live and work in our communities.

At the end of the four weeks, the interns will follow up with the children and their parents from camp. These follow up sessions include feedback from the four weeks as well as encouraging academic excellence throughout the upcoming school year.  Interns will also be writing resource guides for the 2013 academy.  After the camps have ended, Avis Williams and members of the LOCC Mission and Benevolence Committee continue to work with the children who attended the camps. They schedule periodic activities during the school year to provide encouragement and  to monitor and recognize  student progress, The Academy strives to make a positive difference in the lives of our children and their families.