The Creative and Analytical Math Program (CAMP) is not a camp. It’s a summer academic enrichment program for middle school students that features mathematics in a creative intellectual environment. CAMP started in August 2014 with initial funding from the Dolciani Math Enrichment Grant Program. It has grown to become a popular summer treat for math kids in the Mid-Hudson Valley and beyond, and has been recognized since 2020 by the American Mathematical Society with Epsilon Awards. We feature math, computer science, and art classes along with various activities, led by experienced and inspiring instructors, assisted by Bard College math majors.
Update (May 28): There are still a few spots available at CAMP. We expect the program to fill up, so please apply now if you are interested.
Dates: Monday (7/29) to Friday (8/2), 2024 Times: 9:00am to 3:30pm each day Location: Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY Audience: Students in grades 5 through 8 who love math. Cost: $475 for the week. Need-based scholarships available.
We start the day with a fun and interactive mathematical warm up! A lot of our morning activities are focused on getting students to collaborate with others attending CAMP. Math is a collaborative subject and so we want to encourage collaboration and community building!
Here is another example of a fun and interactive mathematical warm up. The students pictured attempt to conquer the human knot: a topologically based activity.
After a warm up activity, the students head to their first class. One of the classes we offer is mathematical problem solving. The students listen to lectures to learn the basics about the math we are focusing on for the week.
The students also get to apply the knowledge they learn in the mathematical problem solving class during some kind of interactive activity. Here the students are making menger sponges!
Here is one of our senior faculty members, Frances Stern, talking with a student about the mathematics of card tricks.
Each year at CAMP we also have a class focused in computer science. This student used a computer program to create this beautiful fractal.
An important part to the computer science class is getting the whole class together to talk about what they’re coding and learning in the class!
In the afternoon the students get to go to the dining hall on campus for lunch. In past years, students brought their own lunch and decided to eat together outside on Ludlow lawn.
Other students ventured further to the gardens at Blithewood to enjoy their lunches together with a couple of our undergraduate staff members and one of Bard’s math professors Lauren Rose.
After lunch we have afternoon activities, which range from fun math to adventuring outside to participating in an active game. In this picture the students are playing a game of amoeba tag!
A fun game of ultimate Frisbee allows the students to get a break from lectures to have fun and further build their communities and memories from CAMP.
These students decided to go on a hike to one of the multiple waterfalls of Bard’s campus!
Following afternoon activities the students go to their last class. Art in math is another class that we offer at CAMP. Here students are able to access the creative side of math that is so often overlooked.
Pictured is one of our senior faculty members a few summers ago, Susie Tarnowicz, overseeing a couple of students bringing their math to life through art.
At the end of CAMP the families of our students are invited to come see all of the amazing things our students have accomplished during the week. Here are students setting up their art installations in preparation for their families to come.
