Greenville Renaissance Scholars is gearing up to host their 2019 Summer Showcase on Friday to celebrate another year of their scholars’ academic and artistic achievement.
Jon Delperdang, executive director for GRS and Camp Renaissance director, said the Summer Showcase will recognize the camp’s 52 scholars and give them an opportunity to show off what they learned over the past several weeks.
The event is set to start at 6 p.m. Friday at E.E. Bass Cultural Arts Center, 323 S. Main St. The public is invited to attend at no cost.
Camp Renaissance started June 1 and is wrapping up Friday, where students will spend much of their day prepping for the showcase that evening.
The showcase, Delperdang said, will feature scholars’ original artwork, dance performances and examples of the scholars’ academic achievement.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun and anyone from the community is welcome to come check it out,” he said.
Over the course of the camp, scholars on Monday-Thursday participated in a classroom-based atmosphere, where they learned more about reading, math, and ACT prep, hands-on science activities, resume-building and more, all taught by certified teachers. In the afternoons, students learned artistic skills, such as dance and visual arts, including painting and drawing.
Every Friday, the scholars traveled to college campuses, museums and community events.
“We called them college and career readiness field trips,” Delperdang said. “We tried going to places that could give them future employment opportunities.”
This year’s camp was a great success, between the eager students and hard-working staff, Delperdang said.
“We always have a great group of families and scholars who are committed to moving forward and making their community better. It’s always a pleasure working with our families and I look forward to working with them going into the school year,” he said.
Delperdang said he is especially grateful to their staff who made this year’s camp a success.
“We have a great staff as well who have worked hard and well with the students, they did a great job as always,” he said.
This year’s camp was sponsored by the Steve Azar St. Cecilia Foundation, Monsanto/Bayer, America’s Farmers, Straddlefork Foundation, Delta Arts Alliance, Dollar General, CSpire, Delta Democrat-Times, The Delta News, Greenville Clearinghouse, Planters Bank, USDA-ARS Stoneville, Greenville Public School District, Double Quick and Tea Rose Foundation (AKA Chapter).
Those unable to attend Friday’s event can learn more about the organization and ways to get involved by visiting grscholars.com.
