CAMP LAAMS. The Joys of Poor Attendance

After a two-week breather, the Remedee team was recharged for LA Academy Middle School day camp, ten days of extreme film and media literacy action. The sights, the sounds, the documentaries, the lesson plans, and (finally!) enough equipment. We’d gathered it all for our classroom of highly select student participants.

At 10 AM we strode into Jason Duchan’s familiar classroom, filled with the sweet sound of waiting students…

Scratch that. Student… singular.

A lone computer illuminated Dylan. He threw us a wave before returning to read about the new Weezer album.

“I’m surprised anyone showed up.”

Mr. Duchan’s skepticism was on point this time around. He told us two of the girls, Blair and Lucía, had showed up too. They were grabbing food before class.

So we waited.

At 11AM, after a round of phone calls to parents and grandparents (headed by Remedee’s Program Coordinator/Media Literacy Expert Ana Trinidad, the go-to Spanish speaker among us) four students had filtered into the class. Dylan, Blair, Lucía, and finally Orlando, whose mom had made him stay home to eat breakfast.

Why did so few show?

“I overslept, it’s summer break, I forgot, my dentist appointment, my mom wanted…” Every excuse in the book.

Blair, whose smiles are as profuse as her unfiltered comments, advised us, “You should have called us on Saturday.”

(Hope you’re listening nonprofits: it doesn't hurt to verify your participants two days before.)

In the end, the small class size fit us well. The kids got individual attention (one Remedee team member per student), no one could be a wallflower, and we knew each kid truly wanted to be involved.

Before closing the first day of camp, Ana made one last plea. “Tell your friends in the program to come tomorrow. Tell them to be here at 11.”

“I don’t want any other kids,” Blair interjected. “Just us! Like we each have a mentor.” She beamed over the ratio of our current group.

Whether Blair got her wish or not, the Remedee team left class confident that Dylan would not be the only kid eager to work with us tomorrow.