Newtown Continuing Education has launched the 24th year of its SMART camp.

The Summer, Music, and Art camp is held at Head O’Meadow School and offers a variety of different classes for children from kindergarten to sixth grade.

“A program with that kind of longevity tells you that the children are having a good time, and the parents are happy. So here we are, 24 years later,” said Stephanie Schwartz, the program's site supervisor.

According to Ms Schwartz, there are 92 students enrolled in the current session. The camp is open to children from in and around Newtown, but the students are primarily from Newtown. Classes meet from 8:30 am until 1 pm, five days a week for two weeks. Every student attends the same three classes of his or her choice for the two weeks of the program.

“There’s the opportunity to work at a deep level on projects, to go really in-depth in whatever art form they’re in. They really get to spend a lot of quality time and create some pretty impressive things. You name it, they’re getting in there and doing it,” said Ms Schwartz.

SMART camp offers opportunities not only for younger children, but for young adults. The camp has interns that help out in each classroom. According to Ms Schwartz, many interns grew up as campers. Sarah Riccio is the head intern for SMART this year.

“Each year we have a lot of the same students come back, they try out new classes, they come back to their old favorite ones,” said Sarah. “We also have new students that come to us and they make friends with the people who’ve been there before.”

The SMART camp classes range in offerings. Many different types of art media are available. Children can work with anything from clay to glass. One class, Fashion Design, has the children design custom outfits for each other and even determining a price.

“They get to choose different projects to do, and they’re guided through the process,” said Lisa Dawson, the papier mâché instructor.

At the end of the two-week session, a “showcase of the arts” is held on the final day, according to Ms Schwartz. The day ends a little earlier than usual to allow parents to walk through the classrooms and see their children’s work on display.

“Parents usually come with strollers and wagons and boxes, whatever they can, suitcases, whatever they need to carry all the art,” said Ms Schwartz.

The last day of the camp is also reserved for a performance put on by the theater workshop.

This year's theater workshop is led by Emily Anderson and Sean Watkins, both with theater backgrounds themselves. Sean described himself as “more of a backstage person,” stating experience in directing, designs, and stage management.

Emily, on the other hand, was involved in theater through middle school, high school, and beyond.

Emily and Sean wrote a script for the children in the workshop to rehearse and perform. According to Emily, the script is entirely composed of original ideas, characters, and storylines from the children.

“There are two sessions of SMART camp, and we write a different play for each session. It’s a lot of work, but these were all their ideas,” said Emily. “This year the production is a little bit larger scale than usual. The play is longer, but the kids really were excited about it, so we’re making it happen.”

There are also many science-related classes offered.

“In the past, SMART has stood for Summer, Music, and Art, but I’m really feeling lately it should be Science, Music, and Art,” said Ms Schwartz.

In the Butterflies, Beetles, and Bugs class, students drew diagrams of an ant colony. The class is taught by Patrick Pennarola.

“[Mr Pennarola is] studying to be an entomologist, so he knows a lot and is very passionate about it,” said Ms Schwartz. “He also grew up as a SMART camper and went through as an intern…then he finished college and is going on to grad school and is now teaching. So there’s a lot of longevity even amongst the staff, which is really nice.”

The STEM class  — Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math — offers a more cerebral angle, according to Ms Schwartz. The instructor, Chris Eide, covers space explorations, rockets, and more.