News Scrapbook 1985

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 127,454)

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anywhere else she'd rather be. "I used to go to those other sum- mer camps but this is more exciting. Regular camps have tents, bugs and things," she said, grimacing slightly. "I just like the homestyle camps." • • • Home on the ranch at Rawhide is a lot like living in the Old West. Locat- ed in a semirural valley near Bon- sall, Rawhide Ranch looks like Dodge City with a dusty main street lined with a clapboard hotel, sherlfrs office, blacksmith and several saloons. Naturally they're all fake, mere facades for dorms, offices and class- rooms. The biggest classroom at Rawhide Ranch, however, is the great outdoors. According to Clarence Chown, the grizzled owner with a penchant toward cowboy hats and big silver- brass belt buckles, kids who come to Rawhide Ranch come to learn about animals. The ranch bas plenty of them: 200 horses and countless cows, goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits, dogs, a goose and a peacock. Kids here pay $200 a week for the chance to ride horses, groom them and clean up after the animals. "They all do chores," said Chown, who has run the ranch since it opened in 1964. "Just like on a real ranch." When Crystal Peters turned 12 re- cently her parents gave her a week at the ranch as a birthday present. She loved it and used her savings to pay for a second week. "Now I'm begging for a third." Crystal, who lives in Montclair, clearly loves the life. She's dressed in a dirty T-shirt, jeans and boots, the usual uniform here. Bubbling with enthusiasm, she said, "Would I go to a computer camp? No way, that's boring. I like computers but I'd rather work with the animals. You get to pet them, feed them. Even the chores aren't bad." Chown's philosophy is down-to- earth: "I don't want to say nothing bad about those other camps, but kids come to camp to have fun, like swimming, fishing and riding horses. Of course, kids need to have a learn- ing experience along with what they're doing. It's fun to swim but it's important to learn how to swim cor- rectly. It's fun to ride horses but it's important to know bow to do it right." And they get plenty of opportuni- ties. Up in the vaulting arena, over- looking a good chunk of the ranch's 40 acres, a handful of young girls practice gymnastics atop horses. Most of these girls haven't been doing it very Jong, usually for only a couple of days. Yet, they are surpris- ingly graceful balancing on one leg or fully extended over a moving horse. Nearby, Jeff Quirk and Kory Seitz, the two would-be cowboys, admire the sight. "They sure can do that good," says Quirk, sort of fumbling with a halter he's supposed to fit over French Fry, a yellow-colored pony. "This is a neat place. I like every- thing about it," be says. "The only thing I don't like is when the horses start jogging." "Yeah," agrees his partner, Seitz. "It hurts your butt." Technology hasn't really hit Rawhide Ranch. The only apples these kids will see are the kind they feed horses. And Chown has prohibit- ed television, even at night after the chores are done. I

But not exclusively. These are also the days of specialty camps, places for religious training, for losing weight, for learning about comput- ers. Indeed, computer camps seem to be the rage. Two weeks or more learning bow to program a comput- er, to speak its language. "I've been to other camps," said Wacbi, who lives in San Diego. "But I like to work on computers. The other places were sort of interesting but this is where I wanted to go. I want to be a programmer." Wachi's computer camp is at the University of San Diego, which along wifli Omted States International Uni- versity, is offering two-week residen- tial programs in computer training. It is a bright, shiny day on the campus of USD. The grass is very green, the sky very blue and the classroom very hot. On the wall is a poster that says, "Get into the com- puter craze." Underneath, there is craziness. Two dozen kids ages 9 to 15, in all sizes and persuasions, sit bunched in front of Apple Ile computers. It's not a quiet classroom. These kids are noisy, rambunctious and eager to learn. That's good because it cost their parents $945 to send them here for the two weeks. This is the second year USO has hosted a computer camp. According to Jacqui Hones, the executive ad- ministrator, the camp is immensely popular. "And not just with the kids with wire-framed glasses and a pen bold- er in the shirt pocket," she said. "We get all kinds. All of them here be- cause they want to learn computers." And that they do: 3½ hours every morning of computer instruction on subjects like BASIC and LOGO (com- puter languages), word processing, printing, robotics and graphics. This is followed by an afternoon of more- traditional pursuits such as visits to the beach or softball games. Even- ings are left open for students to work on their individual computer programs or play computer games. "The reason we added the tradi- tional camp activities, like going to the beach," said Hones, "is because the parents who saw their kids play- ing softball last summer now see them just wanting to sit in front of a computer." Michele Eggleton is the computer instructor. During the school year, she teaches San Diego School District teachers how to use computers. She says the kids are much better stu- dents. Computers, she said, help teach logical thinking. They help train young minds to organize thoughts and work rationally. Jose Barrera, an 11-year-old from Mexico City, may be learning logic but he's also having some fun design- ing a computer program that asks people their name, age and whether they like rock music. Barrera is one of several students who have come a long way to attend. There are students from Switzerland and Italy, Arizona and New York. Hones said there are 44 students in the first session; about 50 expected for the second session which begins July 21. Sheri Williams, 11, is from Chino. Her grandmother sent her here after her parents gave her an IBM PC Jr. home computer for Christmas. "I asked for a dog but I'm glad now I got a computer." Sheri wants to be a computer counselor. She has her eye on Mrs. Eggleton's job. She can't think of

UL 151

Summer camp: cowpokes and

San Diego, CA (San Diego Co.) Evening Tribune (Cir. D. 127,454)

By Scott Tr1bune Edu IIIJOD Writer

UL 15

Standmg in a patch of old straw, horse manure and muck, Jeff Quirk and Kory Seitz hitch up their pants, lean against the corral fence and give their best Clint Eastwood squint into the hot sum- mer sun At ag 10 and 9, they're a little short on the requisite wrinkles, but they get the image across: just a couple of cowpokes killin' time at the Rawhide Ranch. chi 1 13 years old and one of new cowbo of summer. T e range b rides stretches into infin· 1ty, math matically boundless. The glare he fights comes oU a computer termlnal These are the days of summer camp. When parents bundle their kids off for a few weeks of swim- ming, fishlng, hiking and riding horses to places like the Rawhide Ranch and others with strange-

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omuuter c -'-U-:...;>ed ompu... children ar being hel 15 u S m several schools throughout an Diego County. The first of two computer camp_s ot under way last wee~ at the Um- g ·t of Diego. Children aged r:ro~gh 15 are getting hands-on ex- . computer literacy over penence m the next two weeks. They remain on campu and at housed m rooms of USD's domu o- n~be econd ion begins Sunday. National University ha a special mmer computer education pro- ~~am for seventh through 12th gr:d~ students during July and Augus a its Vi:;ta and Mi ion Valley cam- pu es · Students with little program:mg background may enroll in ''.lnt;, uc- tion to Basic Programming, a~d more advanced students may ta e "Introduction to Pascal" or "Pascal Programming." . d t Southwestern College IS con uc - ing a Computer Camp through J~ly and ending Aug. 8. Students entering radcs 5 through 12 in th~ fall ma) ~ke either beginning or mtermed_} ate courses. ,L _ P slated C ation activities for d th· mmer

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souudmg Indian nafles. Please see CAMP, B-4

une photos by Bob Redding and James S/covmand

SUMMER CAMPS COVER COWBOYS TO COMPUTERS Clockwise from top, Mike Zaret, Brandon Gobbi, i.heri Williams and Charlett Lambden

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