Camp has pupils thinking high-tech

Egyptian kings took on mummies this week in an animation created by Ottoville eighth-grader Ryan Kemper.

Kalida eighth-grader Sarah Verhoff's animation showed a skater doing some pretty amazing tricks, while Continental seventh-grader Roger Lehman III built one "huge" virtual space ship.

The pupils, wearing T-shirts they designed, completed the final day of Summer Technology Camp Friday at the Putnam County Educational Service Center. Fifth- and sixth-graders took part last week.

"It looked like a lot of fun and I enjoy computers. ... I would like to do animations and designing," Sarah said of her future.

Pupils thinking about careers is exactly what camp coordinator Andrew Hughes likes to hear.

"If they don't know that this stuff exists out there, they will never ever have the opportunity to try it out," he said.

Hughes and brother, Alex Hughes, attended the camp when in middle school in Columbus Grove. They later came back to run the program. Andrew Hughes owns Designing Digitally Inc., and teaches at the college level. Alex Hughes is a senior at Bowling Green State University.

The camp is geared toward free software. Each pupil received a free jump drive already loaded with software used during the camp. It's one of the reasons why Ryan wanted to come back this year.

"I need a new jump drive. I use it a lot," he said. He does a lot of picture editing at home.

Other camp projects included making videos and three-dimensional models and designing video games. Pupils learned that there is more to a computer than playing video games, Andrew Hughes said. 

"A goal is for them to realize that a computer is not used for video games, but for creating things," he said.

Roger designed a skate park video game, but had the most fun making "virtual stuff," a skill he's learning can land him a job. He wishes he could do more in the classroom. So does Hughes.

"There is no reason they have to write a report about George Washington," he said. "They can learn just as much about George Washington if they did a video reenacting something that happened... They can easily do that in school."

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