This is engaging the community. I'm Michele Skalicky. Missouri State University's last academic day is May 7th, and while many students head home for the summer and campus is noticeably quieter, there's still a lot going on. The university offers a variety of camps and events each summer that are open to the public. I'm talking with Missouri State President Doctor Biff Williams today about campus in the summertime. Good morning.
Williams: Good morning.
I want to talk first about the many camps offered each year for youth. I was looking over the options and realized there are even more than I realized. What types of camps does MSU offer in the summertime?
Williams: Well, there's really a variety of camps. I think that you'll first, you see that there's a lot of sport camps. So you have soccer camp, volleyball camp, men's and women's basketball camp, football and baseball. But then there's a lot for those that are academically inclined. We have a STEM camp. We have a CSI camp, Cyber Cubs, DNA. We have recreation camps, which parents with young kids really like. We have Camp Claw and esports camps. And so, there's really something for everyone, and it spreads across campus. It gives an opportunity for our students that are doing internships to be involved, but also our faculty and staff and our coaches and those that have expertise to share that knowledge.
Yeah. Talk about who leads these, who runs these and who are the instructors.
Williams: So the on the sports side, it's usually the coaches of each of the individual sports. They'll have their organization reach out to the different schools to recruit those kids. And then a lot of our camps on the intellectual side will be from our faculty and staff that really want to, you know...our STEM faculty will be part of that, our CSI faculty, really on the recreation side, that is our staff that run the Foster Recreation Center.
And so a lot of these camps really are run by experts. I mean, you're learning from college professors in some cases.
Williams: Yes, absolutely. And if you look at like band, you come to get skills. You have some of the highest professionals that are in their field that are able to interact with these kids. Or if you're in the orchestra or music camp or vocal camp, those are all individuals that are the best in their field.
Can you talk about the fees? Like, are there any scholarship opportunities available for those who might not be able to afford to attend a camp?
Williams: It's really specific on the individual camps. I'm sure there are some that have waivers or an opportunity, but for the most part, these are funded to build research budgets and travel budgets and different things, and so there are fees. You can just go to our summer camp website and look up the individual camp that you're interested in, and it will outline exactly what the requirements will be.
It sounds like there's a little something for everyone.
Williams: Absolutely. I mean, campus is not dead in the summer. Sometimes there's not as many students, but there's a lot of hustle and bustle, especially with our SOAR programs that are here. And then faculty and staff that are trying to catch up on their research and doing things. So campus doesn't diminish much.
That's right. It doesn't completely take a break. And you mentioned SOAR. So there will be students here over the summer taking tours, kind of getting prepared for the next school year.
Williams: Yeah. This is our welcome opportunity for the students to come in, see where they're going to live, come and experience a little bit of college, have their parents come get their questions answered, make sure that they're aware of the registration process, make sure that we have them in the right classes, that they are fully prepared to start day one.
What are the benefits for the community by offering these camps and also for the university?
Williams: I think it's the interaction of the expertise. A university is full of experts and for a community member to be able to have access to an expert, whether you have a son or daughter that you want to be better on the clarinet or if you have a son or daughter that you want a little bit more instruction in a sport or you have a son or daughter that's really excited about STEM and you want them to get even more excited, here are experts that are willing to teach and get them excited. Also. I think it, for the university, exposes these young kids to come to our campus and feel comfortable. We're hopeful that if you come to our campus as a first grader, second grader, all the way up, eighth grader, by the time you're a senior in high school, you want to come to Missouri State because this is your home away from home.
There are other things happening on campus in the summer besides these camps, I want to point out Tent theater, which of course is a long-standing tradition and shows this year include Around the World in 80 Days that starts June 18th, and also Beehive, the 60s Musical. What does it mean for the university to be able to offer this to the community, and...what is the importance for continuing it for future audiences?
Williams: Tent Theater is a tradition. I've been to every show since I've been here the last two summers. They're absolutely remarkable. But what I have seen in just the two short years that I've been here is that there's repeaters. They come every year. They have for decades. And it means so much because it brings the arts to our community. And I think a university — that's one of our primary roles is to educate and bring culture into a community, and Tent Theater is just one of the many ways that we're doing that.
And of course, you offer classes in the summer, so there are students here taking classes.
Williams: There are — we have a variety of offerings, and many students want to stay. They have an apartment lease, so they want to stay so they want to also kill two birds with one stone and maybe have a lighter load throughout the year. I know our student athletes are here. They're working out. They're also taking classes. I know band comes towards the end of the summer, and so we have a lot of students that are here.
Anything else happening this summer that you'd like to mention?
Williams: I think you'll see a lot of construction on our campus. We're finishing up Blunt Hall. We're finishing up the Clif Smart Advancement Center. Those buildings look remarkable. We have renovations to Cheek. Also, the Reynolds College is also finishing up — so you're going to see a lot of construction, a lot of new improvements. And I think you'll see a lot of traffic through SOAR.
By the time we talk next for Engaging the Community, the school year is going to be over. So good luck to all the students who are getting ready for finals and/or graduation. And thanks for stopping by to talk with me.
Williams: Well, thank you. It's a great day to be a bear.
