Summer Program

Main Club Summer Program Hours

Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 5pm

At the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Holyoke, we strive to ensure that all children are on the path to a great future. This includes during the summer months, when school is out. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other recent traumatic events, we recognize that academic achievement, youth development, and opportunity gaps are likely to be negatively impacted. To combat this, we have developed the HBGC Summer Camp. This program provides children with safe and enjoyable summer experiences that give them the confidence to learn, explore, grow, and discover their passions. Our summer camp includes a wide range of activities, including STEM and literacy activities, project-based learning, daily arts and crafts, and other enrichment activities. We believe that now, more than ever, it is important to provide children with opportunities to celebrate summer and engage in unique experiences. All youth who attend our summer camp will receive breakfast and lunch at no additional cost.

During a typical day at our summer camp, campers are grouped by age and assigned to Youth Development Counselors and Junior Staff who supervise them during their activities. The campers rotate throughout the facility, spending 45 minutes to an hour in each of the following program areas:

• Summer Brain Gain: Boys & Girls Club of America curriculum comprised of one-week modules with fun, themed activities for elementary school, middle school and high school students that are aligned with common core anchor standards. Supported by Disney, each module takes a project-based learning approach: youth engage in a process of learning through discovery, creative expression, group work and a final project or production
• Learning Center: Literacy and writing-based activities, science-based enrichment programs, environmental and cultural activities
• Art: Fine arts, drama, dance and music
• Athletics: Triple Play: nutrition, fitness and cooperative games focusing on the mind, body and soul
• Games Room: Pool, ping pong, fooseball, checkers, cards, board games, small group activities and other high-yield learning activities
• Tech Center: Keyboard typing programs, STEM based computer games, introduction to Microsoft programs, internet research, photography, and much more!
• Health and Life Skills: Prevention programs aimed to teach life skills and healthy choices in the areas of general safety, peer relationships and abstinence regarding smoking, drugs, and alcohol
• Garden & Cooking: Youth will plant, maintain, and utilize the food grown in the garden; on a weekly basis we emphasis the importance of nutrition as staff teach youth basic cooking skills