ASCENT Tennis Camps are designed for players of all levels from beginners to national-level competitors and are built around high-level coaching and a clear development pathway. ASCENT tennis integrates the proven Spanish coaching methodology with the ASCENT philosophy, developing not only skilled players but resilient, adaptable individuals who understand that true success comes from the combination of drive, learning, strategy, technique, and the wisdom to adjust to life’s challenges. On the first day of camp, each participant receives a personalized development plan to establish goals and guide training throughout the week(s). ASCENT uses PlaySight Pro technology to enhance instruction through video analysis and measurable feedback. Campers are grouped by UTR level. Players without a UTR are placed using UTR-based performance metrics, ensuring appropriately matched training groups and competition. Our athletes then progress at their own pace in a positive, challenging environment that prioritizes improvement, confidence, and enjoyment. Whether they’re building tennis fundamentals, refining match skills, training for UTR match play, or leveling up their pickleball game.

ASCENT Tennis Camps are designed for players of all levels from beginners to national-level competitors and are built around high-level coaching and a clear development pathway. ASCENT tennis integrates the proven Spanish coaching methodology with the ASCENT philosophy, developing not only skilled players but resilient, adaptable individuals who understand that true success comes from the combination of drive, learning, strategy, technique, and the wisdom to adjust to life’s challenges. On the first day of camp, each participant receives a personalized development plan to establish goals and guide training throughout the week(s). ASCENT uses PlaySight Pro technology to enhance instruction through video analysis and measurable feedback. Campers are grouped by UTR level. Players without a UTR are placed using UTR-based performance metrics, ensuring appropriately matched training groups and competition. Our athletes then progress at their own pace in a positive, challenging environment that prioritizes improvement, confidence, and enjoyment. Whether they’re building tennis fundamentals, refining match skills, training for UTR match play, or leveling up their pickleball game.

Afternoon camp (1pm - 4pm): Wreck It Ralph Retro Arcade camp Fix-It Felix and Sugar Rush Retro party with your brush! Pixels pop and Pacman plays Creating games of yesterday!

Morning camp (9am - 12pm): Dance Party Remix camp Lights go up and music plays Art that moves in funky ways! From Wicked tunes to K-Pop beats, Hip-hop, rock, now stomp your feet!

Morning camp (9am - 12pm): Dance Party Remix camp Lights go up and music plays Art that moves in funky ways! From Wicked tunes to K-Pop beats, Hip-hop, rock, now stomp your feet! Afternoon camp (1pm - 4pm): Color in the Streets camp Bright paint pops on walls and signs, Graffiti styles of all kinds. Tags and spray, dripping fun, Murals dazzling in the sun!

Student helpers will participate in a training prior to art camp. No video game devices may be used at art camp. No cell phone use is permitted except for parent communication. Student helpers will have a fun and engaging time with campers! Volunteer hours at Art Camp count toward service hours for their middle or high school. Everybody wins!

Student helpers will participate in a training prior to art camp. No video game devices may be used at art camp. No cell phone use is permitted except for parent communication. Student helpers will have a fun and engaging time with campers! Volunteer hours at Art Camp count toward service hours for their middle or high school. Everybody wins!

Our Athletic Camps will run throughout June and July with options for most grade levels.

Our Athletic Camps will run throughout June and July with options for most grade levels.

Our Athletic Camps will run throughout June and July with options for most grade levels.

Building on the success of our Paleontology Academy Tennessee program, this camp will get students learning the intracies of safe, successful paleontological fieldwork in caves! Implementing a college-level curriculum developed by co-instructor Dr. Blaine Schubert, students will get hands-on with mammal fossil deposits in area caves. In these deposits lay the remains of prehistoric organisms that fell, washed or blew into the cave and were buried in mud, secure from the destructive natural forces outside. The cave walls themselves are also fossiliferous, made up of ~300 million year old limestone from an ancient sea. Skeletal remains of vertebrates found in these cave deposits are ~1.8 million years old, and can include organisms such as sabertooth cats, giant ground sloths, giant aramdillos, and mastadons, along with much smaller mammals such as voles. Cave fossils are a remarkable resource, and the skills we present in this program to study them are relevant to paleontological field projects around the world!

Paleontology Academy Kansas camp immerses high school students in the paleontology, geology, and paleobiology of one of Kansas’s most scientifically rich fossil localities. The Minium site preserves an extraordinary assemblage of ancient mammals including prehistoric rhinos, camels, carnivores, and rodents alongside a remarkable record of fossil seeds that reveal the plant communities of past ecosystems. Students will take guided day trips to the quarry to prospect for fossils, learn field documentation methods, and explore how geologic setting influences preservation, mirroring the practices of professional researchers. Back on campus, participants will participate in evening discussions and guest presentations that highlight career paths, research opportunities, and the broader scientific context of their field experiences.

Preparation Methods North Dakota introduces high school students to the fundamentals of professional fossil preparation and collections care, set against the fossil record of the Hell Creek region. This six-day program takes place at the Pioneer Trails Regional Museum in Bowman, North Dakota, where students will work with instructor Dr. Emily Simpson to uncover how fossils move from discovery to museum display and research. This camp blends hands-on technical skill-building with a deeper understanding of the science that drives paleontological work. Participants will prepare real dinosaur fossils from the Hell Creek Formation under magnification, master the use of tools such as airscribes and dental picks, and learn about the specialized glues, consolidants, and safety practices essential to fossil conservation. Students will also clean and prepare their own fossil fish, experiment with fossil casting, and use scanning and 3D-printing technologies to explore how digital modeling transforms modern paleontology research and education.

The Museum of Geology at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology will be hosting a fossil preparation summer camp. The camp will be led by the museum’s Fossil Preparator and Lab Manager, Sam Wright, and will take place in the state-of-the-art Foster Preparation Lab. The Museum of Geology has a large collection (~500,000) of fossils from South Dakota and surrounding states ranging across a large portion of geological time. The fossils in our collection include those from the Ice Age (Pleistocene), White River Badlands, Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway, and Cretaceous and Jurassic Terrestrial deposits which include dinosaurs. Students attending this camp will get hands-on experience with fossil preparation including use of hand tools such as pin vices and dental tools, and pneumatic tools such as air scribes and air abrasion units. The camp will also include learning about and using consolidants and adhesives to repair and stabilize fossils. Making storage containers or “housing” for fossils is a big part of what we do for the specimens in our care at the Museum of Geology, so students will learn the standard practices of making cavity mounts and archival jackets for fossils being stored in collections.

This returning two-week program will get students learning the ins and outs of how to work in a university/museum paleontology research collection! Participants will engage with a curriculum focused on preparing them to succeed as research collection volunteers or paid assistants in college. This is one of the best ways for undergraduates to get their foot in the door working with faculty and graduate students in college, and is pathway many of our former students have successfully taken to find early opportunities to grow from. Skills and knowledge of fossil collections care and managements will also help prepare students for doing data-collection activities for research. Much of paleontological research involves knowing how to communicate with collections managers and conduct oneself in a professional, organized fashion while measuring fossil specimens. Students can expect time working in the fossil collection facilities as well as learning to use collection management software. Digital collection organization tools have become a crucial aspect of modern fossil specimen organization, both in museums and government land management agencies like the BLM and NPS. Participants will work with Univerity of Missouri graduate students and faculty in lessons and hands-on skill-building active learning projects.