ROCK SPRING, GA (WDEF) – Animals have plenty to teach us. That’s a lesson 7 to 12 years old learned to this Summer at Little Vet STEM Camp. Lessons in caring and compassion are a great example of “What’s Right With Our Schools.”
Organizer Wendy Mattson explains, “It’s a camp and we’ve been going for a few years now. We started about 34 years ago. We are for kids who are ages 7 through 12, and we teach them about agriculture animals. We have a dog day, a goat day, we teach them all different skills.”
Cole Doss is a senior at Lafayette High.
Cole explains, “What we do is, we poke two holes in the bottom of a cup and then we run the string through it on both ends, and tie 2 knots on the inside. So, inside the cup it’ll be tight all way up to the end of it, and you can wet your fingers, and you can make a little turkey call.”
Wendy chips in, ” We are excited about our Little VET STEM. We want to teach them STEM, skills to our students, and have them be successful throughout the whole school year. We think learning goes on year- round. So, we are so glad that these kids can come during the summer and share their part of their summer break with us and keep their minds going and their curiosity.”
She continues, “Our camp is targeted for 7 through 12-year-olds. So, our middle schoolers and our high schools are our group leaders, and so they get a lot of leadership skills this week, and I get to come out and help us put on the camp.
Drew Schupbach is a senior at Lafayette High.
He explains, “Since we’re painting ladybugs, I had to learn facts about the ladybugs. I think it helps by just getting used to giving people information, just being able to remember, you know, certain stuff. And having the kids like reaction, like getting good reactions good like, because if you give something that they don’t know, you’re like. oh that’s good. It makes you feel good. You want to do more and then that makes you feel like you want to get involved more.”
Wendy Mattson concludes, “We hope they will become a better wildlife steward. We hope that they will gain leadership skills, confidence, and that they will gain some insight on how to take care of animals and not be nasty to the animals and environment.”
