Learning skills and discovering passions at Galileo Summer Quest

This was The Pea at her very first Galileo Summer Quest camp.  She was an incoming 5th grader, and she had the time of her life learning to design and sew her own outfits.  GSQ is where she first learned how to use a sewing machine.  She's now an incoming 8th grader, and one of her hobbies is designing and sewing outfits for dolls. She also continues to wow her friends and classmates with her creative Halloween costumes.  It has been three years, and she STILL uses the skills she learned at that camp!

This summer, it's my boys' turn.  Jammy and 3Po have been dying to try Galileo Summer Quest ever since that first summer when their big sister had so much fun.  We would drop The Pea off at GSQ, and they would see check-in tables welcoming campers to some of the coolest, most interesting activities ever.  Videogame design!  Digital photography!  Cooking!  Go-kart making!  Each GSQ major is designed to help kids delve deep into a subject they're interested in, for the entire week.  At the end of the week, they will have learned some pretty interesting things about their chosen major.  They will have completed a significant project in that field.  And they will have immersed themselves in the Galileo philosophy of innovation, trial and error, experimentation, and collaboration.   No wonder 3Po and Jammy can't wait!

This year the boys have decided they want to try out the Inventor's Workshop major.  It was a tough decision -- some other majors calling their name were Chefology, Video Game Design, Go-Kart Builders and Cool Chemistry -- but the lure of inventing their own contraptions was just too great to ignore.  They'll be getting down and dirty with circuits, wiring, and materials.  They'll be exploring the principles of electrical engineering structural engineering, and mechanical engineering.  They'll be learning about prototypes, schematics, and user testing.  This is going to be like all the cool shop classes I took in college, put together!  I couldn't be more excited for them.    In fact, I kind of wish I was going to camp with them :)

This is the wonderful thing about what Galileo Summer Quest did for The Pea, and what it could do for 3Po and Jammy-- even just a single week's immersion in a subject they're interested in could lead to something bigger.  It could become their hobby, their passion.  If just one week can do that, imagine what a whole summer could do -- it could help shape what they do in middle school, high school and beyond!

Check out all of Galileo Summer Quest's awesome summer majors available to kids entering grades 5 through 8.  They have 18 camp locations scattered throughout the Bay Area, so chances are you'll find one near you!

Disclosure: I received a free week of camp for two, as a thank you for writing a series of posts about Galileo Summer Quest. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.
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