Madison Country Day School’s Summer Discovery program returns June 22 with six one-week sessions of themed camps for incoming pre-K through seventh-grade students, running through July 21.

Camp Director Breanna Kluz said the program serves a wide age range with differentiated programming. 

“We have weekly themes that are the same for pre-K through fifth-grade students, and then we have a specialized series that we call Middle School Mavericks for upcoming middle school students,” Kluz said. 

“All of the Middle School Mavericks camps are created and designed by middle school teachers.”

One popular Middle School Mavericks offering is a debate camp run by Karla Rempe, an eighth-grade English and history teacher at MCDS.

“I think Summer Discovery is a great way for kids to explore their passions in a non-academic format,” Rempe said. “They can just, what I like to call, ‘nerd out’ on a topic or area of interest, like debate or rocketry.”

This will be Rempe’s third year coaching debate at Summer Discovery. She said she eases students into the format before raising the stakes.

 “We start off pretty low stakes, like Apple vs. Android, before working our way up to a current issue that a student may be interested in researching,” she said.

Chess is another one of the popular specialty camps at MCDS. Run by National Chess Master Alex Betaneli, the camp is open to students in second grade through 12th grade.

“I was able to play against different levels of players, learn new tactics and get better at chess,” Reed ’32 said of his camp experience last year. 

Reed said he is looking forward to chess camp again this summer. “I am excited to meet new people, play new games and sharpen my ability,” he said.

Camps for pre-K through fourth-grade students are tailored to the interests of younger students, and focus on different themes for each of the six sessions, including Nature Explorers Week, Art Adventure and Camp MCDS.

“I love to see how the kids grow in a five-day time!” Rempe said.