Auburn Youth Programs offering online camp experience

Each year Auburn Youth Programs, or AYP, serves thousands of youth who travel from around the globe to attend one of the more than 60 summer camps and programs offered on Auburn University’s campus. This summer AYP will virtually connect campers to campus by delivering a selection of online programs.

The high-demand Vet Camp offered in partnership with the College of Veterinary Medicine has been converted to the Virtual Vet Camp Experience and covers topics such as canine anatomy, snake handling and everything in between. By staying connected through Zoom, participants build community, experience live interactive instruction and engage in a team competition with other campers. Virtual Vet Camp has separate offerings for junior high, senior high and rising 12th graders.

For students interested in the medical field, Discovery MedCamp is a cutting-edge opportunity similar to telemedicine that offers students a chance to work with Auburn's Interprofessional Education faculty while experiencing health care careers in pharmacy, nursing, social work, medicine and nutrition. Participants gain a broad knowledge of the role each discipline plays in health care. By participating in a virtual health clinic that simulates a real-world patient experience featuring mock patients and providers, students engage with others in an online community to examine symptoms, create a care plan and discuss the role of different providers. Discovery MedCamp, hosted by the Southeast Alabama Area Health Education Center, explores health careers in an online format and prepares students approaching graduation to make better informed choices regarding a chosen field of study prior to entering college.

The Summer Reading Skills program, previously offered in locations throughout Alabama, is now presented in live online programs through face-to-face video instruction. In the program, individuals of all ages and stages of reading develop a deep love of reading by engaging in a dynamic online class, interacting with each other and the instructor in real-time. Between classes students complete independent reading and online skills lessons, so they continue learning and reading throughout each week.

AYP expanded online offerings with a lineup of STEAM-related camps. Led by a live instructor with a background in computer science or game design, each program is powered by the camper’s innate imagination and designed to bring their ideas to life in a fun, hands-on learning environment. Students work in pairs or teams mirroring real-life experiences and the collaborative nature of the design process. Programs are offered to students ages 8-14 and include coding, game development, animation and robotics programming.

AYP has worked closely with the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture to offer an online version of Architecture Camp. Through a combination of live sessions and prerecorded video, students will complete architectural design projects with guidance from the university’s highly qualified program faculty.

While on-campus camps remain scheduled for July, Auburn Youth Programs continues working with community and campus partners, such as the School of Nursing, to increase its digital outreach through online camps and programs.

AYP, offered through the Office of Professional and Continuing Education, is an extension of University Outreach that sponsors and executes a variety of summer programs designed to educate and inspire youth. AYP exists to promote educational and enjoyable summer programs to empower youth to find their passion, strengthen skills, and shape their future. By expanding camp offerings to an online format, students can experience life at Auburn from anywhere in the world.

To learn more about Auburn Youth Programs or to see the complete list of online camps and programs, go to www.auburn.edu/summercamps.