Hobart and William Smith Colleges are elated to have the opportunity to teach your child about many facets of science that exceed what teachers can provide in the regular classroom environment during the school year. The goals of this program are to offer students an opportunity to work with and perform hands-on experiments under the guidance of a science professional and teacher who are passionate about science; to provide active learning based on science concepts and standards; to develop collaboration between students, teachers and science professionals; to relate scientific concepts to the real world; and to foster the independent thinking of each child. Each day of this five-day camp will have a theme, and we will spend four days experimenting with food science, sports science, detective science and polymer science. The final day will be a culmination of fun activities from all areas.

CAMP DIRECTORS
Professor Christine de Denus
Graduated from John Taylor High School (Winnipeg, Canada) in 1988, University of Winnipeg in 1993 with a B.S. in Chemistry. She received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Manitoba in 1997 and was a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Post-doctoral Fellow at the Pennsylvania State University from 1997-1999. She has been at Hobart and William Smith Colleges since the fall of 1999. Since her arrival she has taught general, organic, forensic, instrumental and inorganic chemistry, as well as a first-year seminar (Chemistry and Crime). In addition to her teaching duties she serves on a number of campus committees (honors, athletics, hiring, etc), is a member of numerous scientific organizations, coaches the William Smith Club Hockey team and she runs an active research laboratory with undergraduate students. She has been involved with teaching science to students in K-3 at West Street School for the past four years in collaboration with Mindy Ritter. Currently, de Denus and Ritter are teaching an after school science program for gifted students in the third grade that has been funded through a TRC mini-grant. She is also a soccer, basketball, coach-pitch and lacrosse coach at the local YMCA.

Mindy (McGuigan) Ritter
Graduated from Geneva High School in 1985, SUNY-Geneseo in 1989 with a BS in Education and Sociology minor. She received her M.S. in Education from SUNY-Geneseo in 1993 and holds permanent certification. Ritter has taught first grade at West Street School in Geneva for the past 18 years. She has served on the ELA as district chair (2 years) and on the District Building Literacy Team (2 years), and she has taught an after-school science club for first and second grade students. Currently, she serves on the committee to re-establish Gifted/Talented/Enrichment Program in Geneva, is a Ski Club Advisor and is teaching an after school science program for gifted third grade students (funded by TRC mini-grant). She has also been active with the YMCA coaching tee-ball, coach-pitch and soccer.