Summer promises fun for teens Claude Mills, staff reporter Roller skates on the concrete pavement, lemonade, sun, sand, beach volleyball, mid-day basketball games, the smell of popcorn and butter, Disney movies and hot dogs. These are the images of summer, which became official last Thursday. With it comes the promise of fun: blockbuster movies, summer romances, and oh! summer camp fever. And although they might not be necessary, since many youngsters are already set on what they want to do, the advertisements came fast and furious. They plead (for example): "Enrol your child this summer for a fun-filled month of activities they will always remember with joy!" There is a camp for all reasons: e-commerce camps, all-day summer camps, drama camps, poetry camps, nature camps and the list goes on. Joy Frater, Achievers summer programme director, declared that the focus is to provide enjoyment for children ages three to 11, no matter what activity the youngsters choose. "As the summer holidays are supposed to be fun-filled, there is definitely an activity bias with football, cookery, dance, drama, badminton, and even golf. However, teachers cover the academic subjects such as poetry writing, English language, maths and general science through games, projects, group work, quizzes, puzzles and field trips," she said. After three weeks, the children will be allowed to 'show-off' their accomplishments at an 'open day'. Top achievers will win free travel airline tickets. In the interim, several institutions, including the University of the West Indies, are offering summer camps focusing on science, art, computer learning, sports, ballet dancing, folk dancing...or a mixture of all of the above. High tech In the computer camps for children ages 11 to 15, children can learn computer programming, desktop publishing, how to access the Internet and do spreadsheet and word-processing skills. "E-commerce is the way of the world now, it is the way to order stuff, teach them to become young entrepreneurs so later on in life if they decide to open business, they will know how to market the products using the Internet," Celia Gregory, co-ordinator of the Multimedia, E-learning, and E-Commerce Camp, said last week. The camp will be held at the UTech multi-media centre in collaboration with Vilcomm Services International Ltd. It caters to children between the ages of seven and 19 and runs for two weeks. Teenagers, especially in the summer, are nervous bundles of energy seeking exciting new outlets into which they can plug. But not everyone can afford to go to summer camp. Therefore, many young people will be largely unsupervised this summer. More than likely, there will be heavy "teen-traffic" at the malls and shopping plazas. Enter: The Portmore Mall - one of the hottest hang-out spots in Portmore, St. Catherine, a community of 300,000 people, as there are not many other affordable, alternative entertainment spots during the day to sample. "The kids come from all about to cruise the food court, skate inside Skateland. Sometimes couples go to the amphitheatre to just cool out, or they play video games or window-shop," a security officer told Generation Today. Problems But their activities are not without problems for the security personnel. Chief among these problems at the mall, are the teen pranksters and graffiti-buffs. When school is out, teen trouble is always a possibility. "In the summer, it's like their hormones go wild," a security officer said. "Once you see a group of boys or girls going into a bathroom, you know it's going to be trouble. They deface the bathroom stalls but we can't do anything much about that." The Portmore Mall boasts the only operational Skateland, a night-club which hosts a 'Teen Jam' every Saturday. This is in addition to the cinema, where a ticket will cost $250. Love season Still, the hormonal drive seems to peak under full summer moons. "Summer is the season of love, man," Trevor Reid, a 17-year-old student, said with a wink. "You basically have the house to yourself while your parents gone to work, and you have a ton-load of free time to do whatever you want to do. I plan to do driving lessons this summer, and plus, I have a little girlfriend, you know. It's always good to have a little romance during the summer." At nights, teens with access to the "family car" have been known to take dates up to the cool darkness of Green Bay, Portmore, Lookout, Red Hills or Hope Gardens. Devon House offers the ideal place for young lovers to hang out, chat and eat ice-cream. But as a whole, teens shy away from that area especially during the off-school period... there are just too many other adults there, they claim. "Kids don't usually hang around here during the summer, unless school is on and they come here to study," a Devon House security guard said. "The kids just pass through, buy ice-cream and then leave... guess they don't have enough privacy here to do what kids like to do." In the summer, teens are also weekend patrons of strip clubs, and there are dozens of those in the Corporate Area. Admission cost is usually reasonable and 'gatemen' rarely screen entrants to see if they fit the age requirement. Nature walks and tours are fine, but the most enduring memories most people have of summer camp are of course, those breathless summer romances which are nurtured through stolen glances and climaxed with an innocent kiss under a full summer moon.
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