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UGA Summer Academy camps for kids 11-17
Registration is now open for UGA’s Summer Academy, day and residential camps for kids ages 11 to 17.
Camp topics this year include digital film school, comic books, aviation, mock trial, photography, fashion design, robotics, and the ever-popular mini medical school. (That one’s filling up fast.)
Early bird discount applies if you register before March 22, 2015.
Summer debate camps for rising 4th-12th graders
Ivy Bridge Academy is offering week-long debate camps from June to early August for rising 4th through 12th graders.
The camps will be offered at the school’s Johns Creek and Cumming campuses, and will be taught by decorated debaters and debate coaches.
For elementary-age students, the camps focus on the basics of public speaking and research. The middle-school camp delves into the foundations of formal debate, with campers addressing a different topic each week. High-schoolers work on advanced skills in competitive debate.
Registration is open for Summer PEAKS camps at Georgia Tech
Georgia Tech has opened registration for the 2015 Summer PEAKS program, with camps for kids in rising 4th to 12th grades.
These week-long camps cover topics in computing and engineering, including LEGO robotics, mobile app design, architecture, and physics.
All camps are held on the Georgia Tech campus.
Intelligent camps for rising K-5 near Midtown
It’s always nice to find a camp that serves younger children.
Midtown International School’s summer camp, which began in 2014, is for rising kindergarteners through fifth graders. Each week of camp has a unique topic of study. This summer, camp sessions will cover rocketry, horticulture, volcanoes, Egyptology, to name just a few.
Campers are grouped by age so that the weekly topic can be presented at different levels. The camp is staffed by teachers from the school.
The camp will be held at the school’s new campus on Sheridan Road in northeast Atlanta.
Registration is open now.
START:CODE adds game development class
START:CODE invites middle- and high-school students to learn how to make computer games with the tools used by the pros.
The Game Maker lab, led by a local game developer, will introduce students to GameMaker Studio, the coding platform used by professional developers to create games for Android, iOS, PC, Mac and XBOX.
The lab will meet Monday evenings for six weeks, beginning January 12, 2015, at the START:CODE location in Toco Hill / Decatur.
(And by the way, if you’re curious about modern computer coding, START:CODE offers entry-level adult classes, too.)
Get $100 off technology camps — sale ends Monday
If you’re an early planner for summer, you can save $100 on technology camps at Emory presented by iD Tech.
The Emory iD Tech camps are open to kids ages 7 to 17. Topics include coding, game design, app development, robotics, photography, web design and more.
iD Tech also will offer Alexa Café, a STEM camp for girls ages 10 to 15, to be held at Georgia Tech.
The camps offer a low student-to-instructor ratio and lots of hands-on learning. Some programs — including the two-week teen academies at Emory — allow students to live on the college campus; others are day camps only.
The $100 discount is valid if you register and pay for a summer program by Monday, Dec. 15, 2015.
Get $200 off Space Camp through Monday at midnight
Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., is offering a $200 discount off programs for kids and families, now through Monday at midnight. 
The discount can be used for a week of Space Camp, Aviation Challenge, or Robotics summer camp, or for the weekend family camp versions of Space Camp or Aviation Challenge.
If it feels too early to commit to summer camp dates, don’t sweat it. Space Camp will let you register now, take the $200 discount, and select your program dates later.
This is the only sale Space Camp offers to the general public.
Space Camp scholarships available
Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., will soon begin accepting applications for its 2015 scholarship program. Full scholarships cover tuition, room and board for any week-long program, which includes Space Camp, Aviation Challenge, or Robotics summer camps.
Scholarships are awarded in four categories, one of which is academic achievement. Participation in a gifted program qualifies a student to apply in that category.
To apply, a student must be in 4th to 12th grade. Application deadline is Dec. 15, 2014, but the application process is rather involved, so if you’re interested, get started.
Debate teams for grades 4 and up
Ivy Bridge Academy is seeking students in grades 4-12 for its debate teams. The debate program is offered on the weekends at the established campus in Johns Creek and the newly opened school campus in Cumming.
As you’d expect, students learn how to conduct research, organize ideas, and speak confidently before an audience. The debate teams compete in two regional tournaments per semester, as well as in a national tournament in the spring.
Johns Hopkins talent search is your ticket to recommended programs
This spring, I received a recommendation from a reader of this site for the summer programs run by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth. Unfortunately, when I called CTY for information, they said that their summer programs were open only to kids who had participated in their Talent Search program during the school year.
If you’d like to be eligible for future CTY programs, including academic summer programs held on university campuses across the country, you can enroll now in the 2014-15 Talent Search.
The CTY Talent Search is open to students in grades 2 to 8. It operates much like the Duke TIP talent search you may already be familiar with. (In fact, CTY was the regional talent search program that Duke TIP was modeled after.) Your child will need qualifying scores on a standardized test to enter the program. Once admitted to the CTY talent search, a student is able to take above-grade testing that provides greater insight into his or her academic standing. With qualifying scores on the above-grade testing, a child becomes eligible for CTY’s summer programs and online courses.
Both the talent search program and the above-grade testing have associated fees.
Gifted Atlanta 