Boy, Oh, Boy! Kernersville teacher helps students in her male-only class get a taste of camp

KING

A large, overly inflated rectangle in red, yellow and blue stripes interrupts the lush shoreline at the YMCA Camp Hanes near King.

The rectangle, an inflated air bag known as the Blob, delivers some of the greatest thrills for campers as they are bounced off and catapulted into the lake.

For Magdaleno "M" Guadalupe, a rising seventh-grader at Kennedy Learning Center, the thrill of being launched off the Blob and into the dark lake water ranks as one of the top activities at Camp Hanes.

"I really like the Blob the best. Oh -- and the ropes, the water slide and the zip line," Guadalupe said, exuberantly ticking off what he enjoyed about his week at Camp Hanes.

Magdaleno and 22 other boys spent the week at Camp Hanes through the efforts of Stephanie Lee, a teacher at Kernersville Elementary, to provide a summer-camp experience for boys who have been part of her single-gender classroom experience known as "The Barracks." Boys in Lee's fifth-grade Barracks class typically struggle with reading and other academic or social issues.

Lee developed The Barracks concept four years ago when she realized that traditional academic settings were not working for very active boys who felt defeated before elementary school had ended. Boys chosen for The Barracks spend part of each day in a male-only setting with Lee as their teacher.

"The Barracks rejuvenates boys and gives them reason to think that education is a lifelong all-day, everyday process, not a boring six hours a day in a desk," said Lee, whose curriculum has taught reading and fractions with such creative lessons as recipes for fake blood.

Lee's commitment to her boys' education included her work to get them into a summer camp. She formed a partnership with The Clearing House, a payment-services company with a branch in Kernersville. They slated money for summer enrichment for the boys, which translated into an invitation to summer camp for the 42 boys Lee has taught or tutored since the program's inception.

Twenty-three boys came, with financial help from the YMCA. The executive director of Camp Hanes, Val Elliott, noted that 15 percent of the children who attend the camp receive financial assistance.

"Last year we gave $135,000 in camp assistance" Elliott said. "This money comes from our Partner with Youth campaign. We have an open-door policy. We don't want finances to keep anyone away."

The average weekly cost for a camper at Camp Hanes is about $700.

During the week at Camp Hanes, Lee turned from classroom teacher to camp helper. She has been at Camp Hanes every day to experience and video camp with her former students, who range from 11 to 15 years old. The boys have been able to choose from different class offerings and have explored rock climbing, riflery and kayaking.

"The smartest one was the one who picked arts and crafts. He has been surrounded by girls, and the other guys tell him that he's the man for making such a good choice," Lee said with a laugh.

Adrian Medina, a rising eighth-grader at Kernersville Middle School, said he liked the Matrix, a trust-building activity in which participants jump from one wooden platform 45 feet in the air to another and into the arms of a teammate. Although they wear harnesses, jumpers can find it nerve-racking. Success is dependent on trusting one another.

"The Matrix shows us how we can help each other. One of my friends was freaking out so I started singing the Transformers songs,'' Adrian said. "I did that to make him laugh. The Matrix is good because it shows teamwork. Instead of discouraging each other, we have to help one another."

Kevin Jackson, who will be in sixth grade at Kernersville Middle this fall, has visited Camp Hanes only on field trips before.

"Before, we had to leave at 2 when we were here on a field trip. Staying here is more than just looking at the mountains. I really liked our pool party and going off of the water slide and diving board," Kevin said, pausing to study a spider skittering across the gazebo floor toward the lake's edge.

Lee said she hopes to expand the single-gender Barracks program into a full-time venture, and develop a transition program for students as they go through middle school, despite budget cuts making special programs difficult to finance.

"We are praying that the school system sees the value in these boys and the value in making sure that they make it through our system as educated adult men who contribute in a positive way to their society," she said.

■ Monica Young can be reached at cyoung9@triad.rr.com