Services officials want a lot of happy campers

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. David A. Jablonski
  • Air Force Print News
WASHINGTON --  Services officials want to see a lot of happy campers this summer.

More than 500 Air Force teenagers are rock climbing, orienteering, camping, getting leadership training and even visiting the Supreme Court in a series of camps offered by the Air Force Services Agency.

“For the past several summers, we have funded a variety of day camps at each base including activities such as archery, skateboarding, tennis, science and rocketry, and manipulative and life skills,” said Eliza Nesmith, the Air Force family member program specialist. Services also offers many residential weeklong camps.

Camps this summer include Air Force Service Space Camp, Air Force Performing Arts Camp and Operation Purple camps.

“I had a great time, learned a lot and am honored to have been here,” said Thomas Sullivan, a teen from Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. He participated in the program earlier this summer and visited the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery, the Supreme Court and the Holocaust Museum.

Services officials say they have expanded their camps so more children can attend.

“We've been able to dramatically increase the number of residential camps this year and open up this unique opportunity for so many more children,” said Toni C. Koppen, chief of Air Force family member programs.

“Each and every camp, from start to finish, has been a class act for the children, and the efforts of our (staffs) were outstanding,” Ms. Koppen said. “The feedback from parents has been wonderful; one parent wrote and said that his child had been ‘chatting it up’ with family and friends since he returned from camp.”

Camps scheduled this summer include:

-- The second annual Air Force Services Space Camp takes 32 children to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., in August. Two camps, the Space Academy and Advanced Space Academy, offer children a look at space missions, astronautics, military rocketry, and visits to the Space Museum and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

-- The Air Force Performing Arts Camp, held July 26 to 30 in Missoula, Mont., is part of the Air Force Services Nell Buckley Performing Arts Series. Fifty campers will participate in rustic outdoor camping and have a week of voice, acting and dance classes, as well as the usual camping activities, such as swimming, boating, arts, crafts and campfires.

-- Operation Purple, a series of 12 weeklong summer camps for more than 1,500 children of deployed people, is organized by the National Military Family Association and five of the camps take place at Air Force installations. Bases include: Eglin AFB, Fla.; Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; Robins AFB, Ga.; Hill AFB, Utah; and Tinker AFB, Okla. Association officials said they created this program to allow children from all branches to interact and learn from each other by providing them with recreational and art activities as well as skills and tools required to cope with difficulties faced during a parent’s deployment.

“This has been a very busy summer for Air Force youth and staff,” Ms. Nesmith said. “We continue to expand the types of youth programs, something that is particularly important during these periods of high deployment.”