Lubbock’s YWCA summer camps look completely different this year thanks to COVID-19. Executive Director, Glenda Mathis, says once schools moved to online classes, they witnessed kids struggling to stay connected to their learning. In response, the YWCA drafted out three main objectives for their summer camps
We said for this summer we have three objectives,” Mathis says. “One we’ll improve their reading scores and their math scores and we’ll teach everyone how to swim.”
At YWCA’s sun n’ fun location, the pool area is full, but definitely nowhere near capacity. Dozens of children make their way out of the pool, towel off and make their exits. As the campers clear out, community members line up for their pool time. It’s a shift change—part of the intricate planning they’ve had to adopt.
During the city-wide shutdown, the YWCA kept its doors open, offering childcare to children of essential workers only. Those regulations have since eased up, but their operation has changed dramatically. For one, Mathis explains that they’ve only allowed around 160 kids into their camps. They used to accommodate around 400.
“The number of people who are on a waiting list this summer is more significant than ever before,” she says. “Huge numbers.” Most of the children enrolled in summer camp this year were also at the YWCA for spring break and they rolled through to summer. She says there wasn’t additional room for more families.
The kids immediately had to learn how to properly social distance—allowing enough space to spread their arms and spin around without hitting a friend. Mathis says it’s hard for kids to maintain their distance. But the hardest part has been associating summer camp as a place for something other than fun.
“While they resented having to learn during the summer, we said it’s part of it,” Mathis says. They weren’t going to let their YWCA kids return to school with summer slide. She sees this summer as a unique opportunity for the organization. “This summer I do feel like we’ll be able to make more significant impact on individual children then we’ve ever been able to before.”
They’ve taken advantage of that opportunity. “It was like, well we can’t have as many kids as we could before but we’re going to make sure that they get something out of it.”
