THUNDER BAY - When Yousef Alahmar immigrated to Canada from Syria two years ago, an educational summer camp wasn’t something he was familiar with.
After three weeks of summer camp, Yousef got the chance to take home objects he made with his own hands by applying new and old math skills.
He said the camp taught valuable lessons for inside and outside the classroom.
“I had never used a hammer before,” the 12-year-old said.
Yousef was one of 18 Lakehead Public School students who spent the past three weeks putting newly learned skills to the test by building toolboxes, birdhouses, and two dog houses that will be donated to the Thunder Bay and District Humane Society.
Yousef said he has a pet canary that will occupy the birdhouse at home.
For Storm Mamakeesik, the camp left a good impression.
“It’s a really good, inspiring place where you can learn stuff. The people who do this camp will be inspired by the others.”
Lakehead Public School teacher Laura Husiak said the focus of the camp is to apply math and numeracy skills to hands-on projects.
“It’s important because they use it in the real world,” she said. “They need to be fact-fluent and help build skills to help them build on their future education.”
“The kids have a lot of fun. They get to improve their math skills and socialize with other kids throughout the school system.”
