February 9, 2011
Get a jump on summer activities for the kids at Emory's Camp & Learning Expo 2011 from the Emory WorkLife Resource Center.
The free event will be held Thursday, Feb. 17, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Woodruff PE Center's auxiliary court.
Attendees can enjoy refreshments and enter drawings for a wide variety of prizes. Grand raffle prizes include a Nintendo Wii bundle, Amazon Kindle with gift certificate and an iPod Shuffle.
Representatives from nearly 100 summer programs will be on hand to answer questions and provide information, with approximately 400 people expected to attend.
"Many summer camps fill up quickly, especially the overnight programs, and some academic and competitive athletic programs require application as well. We schedule the expo in February so parents can get a head start with their planning," says Audrey Adelson, dependent care program specialist with the Emory WorkLife Center.
The expo will include summer programming for school-age children between 5-17 years old.
For 3-4 year olds, summer programs most likely mean a center-based child care program or a part-time specialty class lasting an hour or two max, she says, instead of a camp.
"We have focused our efforts to help working parents find quality full-day programs, so parents will find fewer of these types of classes for toddlers," she says.
For tweens and teens, some of the programs offer junior counselor and counselor-in-training programs. "Parents should ask camps that their children have attended in the past if this is available," she says.
"In addition, summer camps like to hire college students as counselors and we suggest parents inquire about this at the expo with programs that their young adult children share an interest."
Emory has approximately 3,500 employees with children between 5-17 years old. The expo is open to employees and their families from Emory, Emory Healthcare, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.