Enjoy fun and learning all summer long.

Each summer, as part of our mission to serve as a community resource, North Cross School hosts a variety of summer programs for hundreds of children from across the Roanoke Valley and beyond.  

The program, not just for North Cross students, is designed to provide students of all ages with safe activities that are interesting, challenging, and fun. There are a number of athletic-based camps, as well as enrichment programs to keep your curious child busy and engaged all summer long.
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OFFERINGS FOR 2020: A variety of digital camp options including Yoga, Guitar Lessons, Backyard Birding, Forensic Science, Boot Camp, Self Taping for Actors, Algebra and Geometry Prep, Poetry, and more, in addition to the daily enrichment and athletic camps we offer! Programs will run July 6 through the end of August.
Faculty & Staff
The Summer Programs staff is comprised primarily of teachers and coaches from North Cross School.  In addition, other area schools, college students, North Cross School alumni, and qualified counselors take part during the summer.

Camp Participants
North Cross School students, as well as students from dozens of other local schools, participate and are strongly encouraged to apply. Please be reminded that participants are admitted on a first-come basis. In an average year, over one-half of all participants come from schools other than North Cross School and range from three to 17 years old. Applicants are accepted without regard to race, creed, ethnicity, or national origin.  Through the donation of local organizations scholarships are available.  Please contact Stephen Belderes, Director of Summer Programs, at sbelderes@northcross.org for more details.  ​
On-Campus Enrichment Programs
  • Discovery Camp (Ages 6-12) provides a great mix of activities that will challenge the mind and body. Each day campers will spend part of their time in a classroom doing art projects, fun science experiments, and reading stories. Mixed in with classroom time, campers will have a chance to learn cooking skills or swim strokes.
  • Discover Camp Jr. Edition (Ages 3-5) is a full week of fun! You must be three (and toilet trained) before your scheduled week of camp.
  • Awesome August (Ages 6-12) Enjoy crafts and age appropriate games, stories, and field trips. A daily swim in the Carter Athletic Center pool (swimming vest required) is a must!
  • Awesome August Jr. Edition (Ages 3-5) is a full week of fun! You must be three (and toilet trained) before your scheduled week of camp.

Digital Enrichment Programs​
  • Forensic Science Camp (Grades 6-8) Have you ever wondering if what you see in crime shows like CSI is real? Join me for a week of exploration into blood analysis, trace evidence, fingerprints and forensic anthropology. 
  • STEM (Grades 4-6) Children will learn how to analyze designed objects, and even observe natural adaptations, with a critical eye. TinkerCad and Pyonkee (or Scratch) are two apps that will be taught to help young designers bring their ideas to life! 
  • Backyard Birding (Grades 4-6) This course is intended to increase each student’s awareness of typical and unique bird species in the Roanoke Valley. Students will gain knowledge on how to identify birds in the field, and we will discuss different types of feeders and foods to draw birds to backyard habitats, useful equipment for birding, where to go in Virginia and surrounding states to see birds, and the life cycle and conservation of birds. ​
  • Theatre Games (Grades 6 -11) This class will adapt some classic theatre games to the zoom medium. We will work the imagination and find some joy together in story and creation. This class will begin with a warm-up of the body and the imagination and flow wherever that takes us!
  • Self-Taping for Actors (Grades 6-10) This class will focus on the most common form of submission for actors for film and TV (and sometimes theatre as well). The first day I will talk with students and figure out what kind of auditions we should be working on (this can be different for every student) and I will show examples. I will send out practice scripts from existing TV, film, and theatre and students will film an audition every day after class (or morning before) to bring in for a constructive critique during class. 
  • Monologue Auditions (Grades 6-11) This class will focus on monologue auditions for theatre, film, and TV. These type of auditions are most common in the theatre but this class will teach how to use a monologue for all mediums that students wish to submit for. We will go walk through audition nerves and introducing yourself to potential co-creators, value of your own personal style, and monologues themselves. 
  • Fitzmaurice VoiceWork (Grades 8-12) Fitzmaurice is a voice work technique that helps actors to find their own individual voice, strengthen, and support it. This class will focus on the warming up of the body with the tremor and gaining access to the voice in different parts of the body. 
  • Guitar Lessons (Grades 6-10) One-on-one 30 minute private guitar lessons.
  • Yoga Basics (Grades 5-12) In this five-day beginner workshop, you will get a taste of what yoga is all about AND see improvement in your own flexibility, strength, and stress level. Participants only need comfortable clothing and ample space for yoga movements.
  • Boot Camp (Grades 6-10) This class is centered around fun, healthy, and safe ways to use the body. We will do some stretches to healthily wake up the body and some fun strength-based exercises to get everyone moving and ready for the day! All bodies are welcome, and no equipment is required.
On-Campus Sports Camps​
  • Lacrosse Camp (Ages 7-13)
  • Soccer Camps (Ages 5-14)
  • Tennis Camp (Ages 8-17)
  • Girls’ All-Sports Camp​ (Ages 8-13)

Digital Academic Classes​​
  • Algebra 1 Prep (Grades 6-9) This class is targeted for students who will enter Algebra 1 in the Fall of 2020 or would like to review Algebra skills. Topics will include: fractions, order of operations, and linear equations. 
  • Geometry Prep (Grades 7-9) This class is targeted for students who will enter Geometry in the Fall of 2020. Topics will include: basic algebra skills, introduction to angles and geometry terms. 
  • Algebra 2 Prep (Grades 8-10) This class is targeted for students who will enter Algebra 2 in the Fall of 2020. Topics will include: solving linear equations, graphing linear equations and inequalities, and solving a system of equations. 
  • Tapping into Your Inner Poet (Grades 5-9) This workshop is a fun and interactive way to begin writing your own poetry. Through the exploration of brainstorming techniques and poetry prompts, you will discover how to tap into your individual creativity and imagination and experience the joy of writing your own poetry. At the end of the week, you will have created a poetry portfolio and discovered your own inner poet.
  • Dystopias: Reading and Writing (Grades 5-8) Dystopias: Reading and Writing -- From George Orwell's 1984 to current modern favorite series The Hunger Games and Divergent, dystopian fiction is a pervasive and captivating genre of literature. In this one week seminar, meeting for one hour each day with some additional time for reading or writing outside of Zoom meetings, students will read a variety of dystopian short stories, learn about characteristics of dystopian fiction, and write their own dystopian short story.
  • Creative Writing Workshop: Prose (Grades 5-8) In this seminar, students will engage in a variety of creative prose writing. They will explore personal essays, narratives, and short stories. They will share writing and give and receive feedback from their peers and instructor.
  • SOL: Communication: Speaking, Listening, & Media Literacy (Grades 6-8) Session 1: Mr. Kier will present current event articles for comprehension affirmed by oral presentations to the class with moderated discussion and evaluation of opinion, fact, and logical coherence. 
  • SOL: Reading (Grades 6-8) Mr. Kier will present short stories, poems, and non fiction for comprehension according to a single guiding question. Class discussion and comparative presentations will be the assessment tool. 
  • SOL: Writing (Grades 6-8) Mr. Kier will focus on developing effective persuasive essays by evaluating exemplars from professional writers and classmates. A single persuasive essay will be the assessment in addition to peer review.
  • SOL: Research (Grades 6-8) Mr. Kier will present a single research topic that students will cover in order to evaluate quality sources and evaluating claims supported by research.
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