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Academic Summer Camps

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July 14- July 26, 2024

Come to Roberts Wesleyan University to experience what it is like as a Roberts Wesleyan Redhawk!

Spend up to two weeks as a Roberts Wesleyan student when you participate in one of our overnight Academic Summer Camps. Have one on one access to faculty and professionals in your chosen camp. Not only will you experience campus life as a Roberts Wesleyan University student, you will also experience what Rochester, NY has to offer with our city outings! Camps run Sunday-Friday the weeks of July 14 and July 21, 2024, with an optional weekend stay. The cost of camp includes meals, overnight stay, camp experiences, labs, and more.


Open to high school students entering their sophomore, junior, or senior year in the fall of 2024. Registration for each camp is limited to the first 24 students to sign up and submit their registration fees.

Click below for a description of each of our 9 academic camps:

Week One | July 14-19, 2024

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SOCIAL WORK

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CSI/ Forensics

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PRE-MED

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STEM

CSI/ Forensics

Do you love solving mysteries? If so, you will love our CSI and Forensics Camp at Roberts!

Come spend a week immersed in crime scene investigation. From collecting evidence to analyze the evidence in a lab, you will process a simulated crime scene and work with a group to solve the crime. This camp will provide you with hands-on experience in the field of forensic science. CSI examines multiple aspects of how law enforcement teams conduct a criminal investigation. You will be part of a group that works on a week-long crime scenario that needs to be solved.

  • Discover how a professional collects evidence and processes a crime scene.
  • Gain experience collecting evidence from a simulated crime scene. Perform laboratory experiments to analyze the evidence with current instrumentation.
  • Meet with K9, SWAT, and Criminal Intelligence Specialists
  • Discover how professional units approach criminal investigation.
  • Gain experience solving crimes through mock crime scenes and tactical simulators.

Photography & Film

Do you like taking pictures and making movies?

Spend a week as a photographer and filmmaker. Learn the essentials of visual storytelling using professional-level DSLR cameras, video production, and audio equipment. Explore the importance of composition, lighting, depth of field, color, and more that can make even your smartphone images and videos more cinematic.

  • Explore one photo theme each day including portraiture, architecture, journalism, event photography, and even black-and-white "camera-less" images.
  • Write, produce, film, and edit a short narrative film in small production groups.
  • Learn the rules and when to break them as you capture the world around you during walking field trips.

Meet Your Professor

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Romy Hosford
Associate Professor of Art

Romy Hosford is a multimedia artist, visual storyteller and Associate Professor of Visual Arts at Roberts Wesleyan College. She holds an MFA degree in Visual Studies from Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY. She has over 20 years of experience in both commercial and fine-art photography and film/video production. As an educator Professor Hosford challenges her students to question and challenge the cultural misconceptions about the arts and the media/electronic arts.

PRE-MED

Are you interested in the medical field? 

Spend a week learning about medical professions and explore possible pathways to medical school and other health professions. You will learn more about the field of medicine and participate in hands-on medical simulations.

  • Participate in medical simulations in our state-of-the-art simulation center and analyze medical case studies to diagnose mock patients.
  • Perform a series of animal dissections including the heart and lungs, kidney and brain.
  • Conduct a genetics experiment using molecular techniques to determine your genotype for a particular taste gene.
  • Learn how to suture (i.e. stitches).

Pre-Physical Therapy

Are you interested in helping people get back to physical health?

Spend a week learning about the profession of physical therapy. Physical Therapists make peoples’ dreams of getting back to full health, after injury or surgery, come true.

  • Learn more about the training and practice of physical therapy from former Roberts students.
  • Discover the wide range of career opportunities in PT.
  • Practice flexibility tests used by Physical Therapists and Athletic Trainers.
  • Engage in fun activities that highlight physical limitations that your future patients may experience.
  • Use state-of-the-are equipment to measure your cardiorespiratory capacity
  • Learn how you can become trained and certified to take your place as an integral player on a healthcare or sports medicine team.

Meet Your Professor

Peter LaCelle
Professor of Biology

Dr. LaCelle earned his Ph.D. in Physiology and Cell Biology from Albany Medical College in Albany, NY, with research focused on the decline of host-defense after injury. He has been teaching anatomy and physiology to many bright students interested in health professions, including nursing, physical therapy, physician assistant, and medicine, for the past 15 years. As part of the team developing the new Exercise Science major here at Roberts, he has become passionate about preparing students for careers in physical therapy and all aspects of sports medicine. His current research focuses on various exercise science and cell and molecular biology problems, including the influence of diet on human performance, and the regulation of cell growth and differentiation in the epidermis of the skin.

SOCIAL WORK

Do you enjoy working with people to solve problems and promote positive change?

Spend a week learning about the diverse settings where social work professionals are employed and how they support individuals, families, organizations, and communities in meeting their goals.

Roberts Wesleyan University Social Work faculty will provide, through engaging discussion and activities, an overview of what social workers do and how they advocate for change.

  • Learn about the almost unlimited settings in which social work professionals help people and advocate for change including schools, healthcare facilities, community agencies, mental health clinics, and policy/lawmaking arenas.
  • Learn about the diverse populations social workers serve and the bio/psycho/social/spiritual/cultural perspective.
  • Take a guided field trip around Rochester that illuminates some of our community’s biggest challenges – and strengths!
  • Learn about the Social Work Code of Ethics and how these principles guide our efforts in social and environmental justice.
  • Engage with peers in hands-on intervention activities used by social workers when working with clients, and learn about how we evaluate the effectiveness of our work.

Music Therapy

Are you interested in using music to help people heal?

Spend a week exploring the amazing world of music therapy. Music Therapists use their specialized knowledge of music and psychology to help people along the path of healing and growth.

  • Learn how music therapists use improvisation, songwriting, performing, and music listening to help clients achieve individualized goals.
  • Learn how to lead an improvised group music experience.
  • Gain a better understanding about music therapy as a career path.
  • Explore the therapeutic uses of music across a variety of settings.

Meet Your Professors

Megan Resig
Megan Resig, MS, MT-BC
Director of Music Therapy

Megan Resig came to Roberts in 2004 to pursue a degree in Piano Performance. After graduation, she went on to get her master’s degree in Music Therapy from Nazareth College of Rochester and spent the following two years working as a music therapist at Hochstein School of Music and Dance, serving children and adults with developmental needs. In 2011, Megan took a position in Portland, Oregon with the Children’s Cancer Association where she provided music therapy services to patients in the pediatric oncology and burn units of several local hospitals in the area. She also served as a full-time music therapy faculty member at Marylhurst University. After moving back to Rochester, she partnered with two local music therapists to open Spectrum Creative Arts, a community arts center dedicated to providing music, art, dance, and theatre programming to individuals of all ages and abilities in the Rochester area.

STEM

Come explore various topics in STEM.  STEM Camp is designed to teach you about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math while giving you the opportunity to explore different concepts and enhance your education outside the traditional classroom.

  • Interactions of light (lasers), diffraction, and wave interference, leading to Quantum Information Science applications such as cryptography and interferometry.
  • Hands-on models will be used, including spectral observations, a quantum coin toss (quantum security), a student-built interferometer or telescope, Glowscipt (Python) computer simulations, TinkerCAD 3D printing, and the Quantum Odyssey video game exploring quantum bits, qubits, gates, and entanglement.
  • A field trip (weather permitting) for star and planet gazing aided by the Star Walk app and Stellarium software.

Week Two | July 21-26, 2024

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Nursing

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Creative Writing

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Psychology

teaching

Teacher Education

Criminal Investigation

Do you want to understand the inner workings of a criminal investigation?

The Criminal Investigations Camp examines multiple aspects of how law enforcement teams conduct a criminal investigation.  You will be part of a group that works a week-long crime scenario that needs to be solved.

  • Meet with K9, SWAT, and Criminal Intelligence Specialists
  • Discover how professional units approach criminal investigation.
  • Gain experience solving crimes through mock crime scenes and tactical simulators.


Meet Your Professors

Grana Headshot
Glenn Grana
As a former law enforcement professional, Glenn Grana knows what it takes to get the job done. He's worked in every area of law enforcement, including crime analysis. Glenn will bring his over 20 years of experience to CSI Camp and lead students through crime scene investigations and crime analysis. Glenn is a published author and recognized authority on crime and intelligence analysis.
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Jason Murphy
Jason Murphy is currently employed by the Irondequoit Police Department (IPD) as a Sergeant of the road patrol. Jason assists in supervising the 3rd platoon, as well as the Technical Services Unit. He has been employed with the IPD for 10 years and has served as a Field Training Officer, Evidence Technician, Crisis Intervention Team Member, and Member of the Honor Guard. Prior to his time with IPD, Jason served as a Police Officer for the New York State Park Police.

Psychology

Would you like to understand people better? Would you like to learn more about the science of Psychology?

Spend a week learning about psychology and the breadth of vocational paths that it offers. Expect to learn a lot more about yourself and the people around you as you participate in a variety of activities.

  • Develop an understanding of behavioral and emotional disorders.
  • Learn about experiments that shocked the world!
  • Spend some guided time online exploring the breadth of careers available to someone who studies psychology.
  • Develop some techniques for becoming a natural helper.
  • Discover how play can be used to help people in counseling.
  • Experience the use of psychological measures to answer and decipher some of life’s most asked questions about human behavior.

Nursing

Are you interested in becoming a nurse?

Spend a week in the life of a registered nurse. With the help of the latest cutting-edge technology and expert clinicians at Roberts Wesleyan College, you will learn to work as a vital member of the healthcare team.

  • Practice basic assessment and nursing skills in our state of the art practice and simulation labs.
  • Participate in simulations with high fidelity manikins that have a heart rate, blood pressure, breathe, and talk.
  • Explore the vast career opportunities in the field of nursing and what it takes to be a nurse today.

Teacher Education

Do you love working with children?

Spend a week learning about teaching children. You'll walk the path of a teacher, planning fun lessons and activities, and then implementing those activities with children.

  • Learn about the different content areas you could teach.
  • Observe different teachers in action.
  • Learn how to plan lessons and activities that are engaging for children.
  • Plan and implement lessons and activities with children.

Music Performance

Are you interested in classical music performance?

Spend a week practicing and performing as you hone and develop your musicianship skills. Collaborate with other musicians and develop solo repertoire with skilled coaching.

  • Grow as a musician on your instrument of choice.
  • Receive invaluable coaching from members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
  • Gain performance experience in the beautiful Shewan Recital Hall.
  • Learn tips and tricks from local Professional Musicians about how to improve your performance skills.

Meet Your Professors

Adam Potter
Adam Potter
Director of Choral Activities

Dr. Adam Potter is a former high school choral music educator. Following his public school teaching career, he earned his Ph.D. in choral conducting and music education from the Florida State University College of Music, where he studied choral music with Judy Bowers, Kevin Fenton, and André Thomas and music psychology and research methods with William Fredrickson, John Geringer, and Clifford Madsen. A passionate teacher of pre-service music educators, his former students are employed in public schools, private schools, churches, and community choruses throughout the country. He continues to work with learners of all ages through an active schedule of guest conducting, ensemble adjudicating, and conference presenting in the United States and abroad. At Roberts, he conducts the Chorale, Women’s Choir, and Men’s Chorus and teaches coursework in choral conducting and vocal music education methods.
Megan Resig
Megan Resig, MS, MT-BC
Director of Music Therapy

Megan Resig came to Roberts in 2004 to pursue a degree in Piano Performance. After graduation, she went on to get her master’s degree in Music Therapy from Nazareth College of Rochester and spent the following two years working as a music therapist at Hochstein School of Music and Dance, serving children and adults with developmental needs. In 2011, Megan took a position in Portland, Oregon with the Children’s Cancer Association where she provided music therapy services to patients in the pediatric oncology and burn units of several local hospitals in the area. She also served as a full-time music therapy faculty member at Marylhurst University. After moving back to Rochester, she partnered with two local music therapists to open Spectrum Creative Arts, a community arts center dedicated to providing music, art, dance, and theatre programming to individuals of all ages and abilities in the Rochester area.

Creative Writing

Interested in developing your creative writing skills?


Spend a week thinking and training yourself to work as a professional creative writer. Learn new writing strategies and engage in multiple genres to explore what areas of strength you may want to develop further. Resources and daily writing prompts are provided to allow students a challenging but caring environment to grow as an artist and creative writer.

12 Academic Camps to Choose from

Available Camps-

Week 1: July 18-22, 2022 | Click the icon for more information about each camp

lab beaker

Forensic Science

stretching

Pre-Physical Therapy

camera

Photography & Film

earth with hand

Social Work

teaching

Environmental Science

teaching

Teacher Education

*Registration for the Nursing & Pre-Med Camps require an additional $10 Simulation Fee.

Week 2: July 25-29, 2022 | Click the icon for more information about each camp

stethoscope

Nursing

heart and heartbeat

Pre-Med

stretching

Creative Writing

music notes

Music Performance

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Psychology

stretching

STEM

Meet Your Camp Director

Rebecca Draper Headshot

Rebecca Draper, PsyD, LMSW, Summer Academics, Director

“Making a decision about your future career and college choices can be very difficult! This is an amazing opportunity to get a head start on those decisions. Have a real University experience with University courses designed for you to experience your career field of choice during the day and take exciting field trips out on the town in the evening! As we look ahead to our 2024 Summer Camps, I hope you will consider Roberts Wesleyan University a place where you can learn, grow in faith and make some incredible connections. Our faculty, staff, and counselors have the highest level of education, motivation, energy and passion to guide you in your college experience. We want to share our passion and skills with our campers to ensure they have a meaningful, safe, and enjoyable time at camp. I can’t wait to welcome you and your family to Roberts Wesleyan University– see you this summer!”

Cost

One Week: $550/week | Two Weeks: $500/week*

The cost for camp includes:

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Academic Sessions with Roberts Faculty

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Meals

Sleep in Bed

Overnight Accommodations

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Campus Experiences

*Campers attending for two weeks who wish to stay the weekend may do so for an additional $300.

As a Christian institution, these camps will seek to incorporate the values and commitments of the Christian faith.

The Camp will have a permit to operate in New York State from the Monroe County Department of Public Health.

Have questions? Please email Martha Smith.

Refund Policy

If Roberts Wesleyan University cancels the camps, a full refund will be issued. 

If a participant cancels, refunds will be given if withdrawal from the program is made at least four weeks prior to the start date (by June 16, 2024). Requests for refunds will not be honored if withdrawal is made within four weeks of the start date unless a written request citing extenuating circumstances is submitted and approved. A $25 processing fee will be retained for withdrawal refunds.

Full Scholarship Application Criteria

Students meeting select criteria may be eligible to receive a full scholarship to attend one summer camp of their choice.  Students must have:

  • Financial need as evidenced by receiving free or reduced lunch
  • A cumulative high school GPA of 2.50 or higher

Scholarship applicants may apply to attend for one week of camp. Scholarship recipients will be notified by May 31.

Click here to fill out the scholarship application: https://www.roberts.edu/forms/app/form?id=0DtyzA