SCH Wraps Up Largest Summer Ever, Welcoming 650 Campers and 60+ Horizons Scholars

As soon as classrooms empty out and bags filled with end-of-year projects come home on the last day of school, the campus is prepped for the arrival of Summerside campers and Horizons scholars. SCH’s Summerside Camps ran for 10 weeks, welcoming 650 campers for 40+ camps, including STEM, sports, nature, arts and fabrication, and our signature Summerside Day Camp for kids 4 to 13 years old. 

Andy Morris, SCH’s director of summer programs, works year-round designing camps for a wide range of ages and interests that flood SCH’s campus each summer. 
“We wrapped up our biggest summer ever, complete with new offerings as well as familiar, Summerside favorites,” says Morris. Just a few new offerings were baseball, soccer, new levels of robotics, and culinary camps. Our Summerside Day Camp was buzzing with excitement during themed weeks such as Superheroes, Around the World, Mad Scientists, and Magnificant Mythology.

On top of Summerside’s action-packed weeks, SCH also hosted 60+ Horizons scholars. Now in its fourth year, the program serves 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th-grade students. Horizons students experience a full day of learning opportunities, including literacy, math, and STEM. They take field trips and receive instructional swimming, among other enrichment activities.

“Over the summer,” says Kenyatta Patterson, director of Horizons at SCH, “our students have embarked on an incredible journey of learning and growth.”

2024 Summer Highlights

• Summerside welcomed new and returning SCH alumni counselors and SCH faculty counselors who ran themed games and lessons, arts and crafts, and music. 
   
• Campers were treated to a “Friday Spectacular” each week with a Superhero battle/tug-of-war; Olympic games complete with races, national flags, and a trophy ceremony; and Wild, Wild Wissahickon Tree Houses, just to name a few. 
   
• Summerside’s youngest campers had new specialties led by SCH faculty and coaches: tinkergarden, basketball, tennis, Chinese dress-making, and more.
   
• Our newest specialty camps for older ages included soccer, baseball, additional weeks of multisports, new robotics levels, and a successful CEL-grown comic camp run by senior Trey Angell.
   
• Horizons scholars took part in weekly enrichment activities, including nutrition lessons, music classes, time in the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership maker space, and a tennis clinic in partnership with the U.S. Tennis Association. 
   
• Horizons scholars also explored the Philadelphia region. Students had the opportunity to go on field trips to a variety of destinations, such as the Smith Memorial Playground, The Franklin Institute, The Philadelphia Zoo, and The Academy of Natural Sciences. 

SCH summer staff members make the summer not just possible, but fun! We had more SCH students, alumni, faculty, and coaches working Summerside than ever before, and several of our students signed up to volunteer with our Horizons at SCH program. 

“It’s fun to be here with the kids, especially in the pool. I love teaching them to swim,” said Horizons volunteer Yaya, a rising sophomore at SCH. 

Thanks to all the families who joined us for Summerside Camps and supported Horizons at SCH this year! Mark your calendars, camp registration for next summer will open on January 15, 2025.

Interested in learning more about Summerside? Sign up for our interest form here. 

Interested in learning more about Horizons at SCH? Read more here.