Summer Camp

It's hard to believe that the 1980 movie "Xanadu" could have the potential to make anything other than a worst-movies list, but this cinematic flop magically served as the inspiration for a successful Broadway musical in 2007. Provided you're in the mood for what amounts to summer camp, "Xanadu" is silly fun at Toby's Baltimore Dinner Theatre. The movie's plot about an ancient Greek muse inspiring a modern American painter was so stupid that not even chart-topping Olivia Newton-John and the venerable Gene Kelly could save it. Although the movie bombed, it developed a cult following that must have encompassed, oh, at least a few dozen people nationwide.

Congratulations to Tim Marcin, winner of Washington College 's Sophie Kerr Prize, worth $61,192 this year. The 22-year-old  from Wilmington, Del., who is headed to Northwestern University, plans to pursue a sports writing career. That's a worthy goal -- to follow in the footsteps of luminaries such as Ring Lardner and Roger Angell. (I'd even toss John McPhee into the crowd.) According to the college, he submitted "poems whose subjects included teen romance, the music of Bob Dylan, and up-close perceptions of his father's well-worn coat, and the red stitches on a baseball.

Yellow school buses fanned out to the House of Ruth and the Druid Heights YWCA on Monday to pick up 140 homeless children for the first day of what promises to be a happy summer spent at Camp St. Vincent in Patterson Park. The day camp for children ages 5 to 12 holds classes in reading, math, art and music in a Head Start building at Patterson Park Avenue and Gough Street. Daily swimming takes place at the park pool, and a circle of tents house other activities. There is also a social and emotional development component of the curriculum that teaches life lessons in themes of respect, self-esteem, and love of the family and community.

Submitting sports notices The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. on Monday. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). Lacrosse The Howard Boys Lacrosse program is offering two camps this summer at Howard High School. The first camp will be for grades 6-8 (July 8-11). The second camp will be for grades 2-5 (July 15-18). Call 410-313-7275 for registration or 410-313-4716 for more information. Football The Mt. Hebron football program is sponsoring the 2nd annual Parking Lot Extravaganza on May 18 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Mt. Hebron student parking lot. The event includes a flea market, scrap iron drop off, comfort food sales and much more.

Lose The Training Wheels, a program that teaches individuals ages 8 and older with disabilities to ride a conventional two-wheel bicycle, is accepting applications for its second annual summer camp held at and sponsored by Mountain Christian Church in Joppa July 30 to Aug. 3. "Last year's campers were amazing," volunteer camp director and Harford County resident Lori Ginley said in a press release announcing the camps. "To see the determination and sense of accomplishment in their eyes as they progressed each day until they became independent two-wheel bicycle riders was truly inspirational.

As pedestrians scurried through the sunshine that bathed Patterson Park this week, 12-year-old Daniel John took refuge under a tree, poring over a book, enjoying a space all his own. "If I were at home, I'd probably be watching TV for over seven hours," said the rising seventh-grader at Montebello Elementary/Middle School, who is living at a local shelter. Daniel is one of 130 Baltimore city and county students who are finding stability in a summer learning program exclusively for homeless students — a population that has ballooned in the city and doubled in Baltimore County in the last five years.

The sign inside Howard Community College's Hickory Ridge Building pointed to a summer camp class called "Oooo, Goo and Stinky Too: Gross Science. " Inside the classroom, elementary school kids discovered how inventive they could be with household products, mixing corn starch, cocoa and red dye to make fake blood and fueling toy rockets with Alka Seltzer. The hands-on class is among dozens offered during HCC's Kids on Campus, a summer education enrichment program for youths ages 7 to 17 that is celebrating its 25th year.

Caroline Queen remembers the feeling she had when she didn't make the U.S. Olympic kayaking team going to Beijing in 2008. She finished behind Heather Corrie, who had grown up in England. "I was pretty [engrossed] in the process," Queen recalled recently. "There was an emotional explosion when it didn't work out. " Queen could be forgiven for such an outburst. She was 16 years old at the time and the youngest woman in the history of the U.S. national team, which she made at age 15 in 2007.

A recent playground brawl at Wilde Lake Middle School between 13-year-olds Michael Davis and Alywin Thompson landed the youths in court -- the court of Columbia's Each One Reach One summer camp.The fight started when Alywin made a derogatory comment to Michael, who responded with his fists. So with camp members -- mostly boys from Wilde Lake and Harper's Choice middle schools -- as lawyers and camp co-founder Vince Guida as judge, a verdict was reached: Both youths were guilty.They should have found a better way to relate to each other and resolve their conflicts, said Michael, who'll enter ninth grade at Wilde Lake High School this fall.

Sweeping and mopping, scrubbing and chopping, raking and trimming, painting and gardening; it's all hard work. But the campers attacked their chores cheerfully and energetically.After a breather, small knots of youngsters sat on the basketball court, discussing "conflict," and how individuals and groups can resolve it. Older campers were studying the history of Chinese Jewry.This is summer camp with a difference. Modeled on an Israeli kibbutz, Camp Moshava in Harford County implants the concepts of community, personal responsibility and self-reliance in the 200 boys and girls, ages 9 to 18, who attend as campers or counselors.

The Bel Air Police Explorer Program is hosting a one-week Youth Police Camp this summer for children who are interested in the law enforcement profession. Campers will participate in classroom and hands-on activities with the many different officers from various units within the Bel Air Police Department, including a daily regimen of physical training. There will be demonstrations from the police K-9 unit and the Harford County Sheriff's Office Marine Unit and Motorcycle Unit. The campers will be required to wear a uniform consisting of a T-shirts with camp logo and a baseball cap. The cost to attend the camp is $40 per child.

U.S. Taekwondo Academy (USTA) was recently been presented with a United States flag as a gesture of appreciation. The American flag was flown over Kabul, Afghanistan September 11, 2012 in honor of the U.S. Taekwondo Academy and the Chang family during Operation Enduring Freedom. The Chang family owns and operates the U.S. Taekwondo Academy. The flag represents the will and resolve of the American people to protect those who cannot protect themselves and to stand strong and defeat all who attempt to bring the United States harm. The plague was signed by Command Sgt. Maj. Daniel L. Steward, US NSE, and Lt. Col. Alan T. Lindley, US NSE – Commander.

The state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is asking the public for informal comments on proposed changes to regulations for summer youth camps. The regulations that look at health and safety issue haven't been updated since 1992. More than 700 youth camps are certified and inspected annually by state health officials and just as many that are run by government agencies or accredited alternatively through Boy Scouts of America or other groups. Officials are looking at these questions: 1.      Should there be a change in the frequency of inspections for camps, based on their health and safety experience, inspection history, and risk?

The pastel-colored ball of yarn made its way from one tiny hand to another at the Camp Kesem "empowerment ceremony," with each camper unraveling their part of a common, painful thread. What bound them together was cancer — which had come barreling into the lives of the children who attended the camp hosted by Johns Hopkins University students and recent alumni. For many, this week was the first time they realized that they weren't the only ones navigating a childhood derailed by the disease.

The scene at Hashawha Environmental Center in Westminster Friday evening was filled with the friendly chaos typical of the start of summer camp. Parents unloaded gear and gave last-minute instructions. Ubiquitous counselors welcomed visitors and ushered them to cabins. And chatty children seemed eager to be on their own. Well before the dinner bell, one girl was so enthralled with her bunk that she spread her sleeping bag across it and laid down to test the accommodations. She was so comfortable that only the promise of craft-making with her older sister could draw her away.

In one of the most ideal settings in the county for such an exercise, high school students in the Baltimore County Summer Visual Arts Enrichment Camp spent Friday, July 13, working on landscapes at Hampton Mansion in Towson. "It's something new," said Daniel Flinchbaugh, 16. "That's what this program is all about: expanding our experiences. " Flinchbaugh, a Lutherville resident and rising junior at the Carver Center for Arts and Technology, was part of a small group of advanced artists working on landscape painting.

When asked to remember what summer camp was like, some adults may think of cabins by the lake, nature hikes or roasting marshmallows by the fire. Today, choosing a summer camp for a child is like shopping for cereal: With so many brands, how do you choose what's best? While the camps of old are far from extinct, many children are opting for specialty camps, where they can spend an entire summer playing basketball or learning to manage their weight or even defying the laws of gravity in simulated space shuttles.

Finding a summer camp that meets kids' needs without blowing the family budget is a challenge for working parents everywhere, but for those hit hardest by the sluggish economy, it can be especially tricky. Until this year, not many Howard County families were among that financially strapped group. But with 2012 only half over, nearly twice as many financial aid requests - for four times the amount of money - have been logged at the Y in Ellicott City compared with all of last year.