Do you know what you are doing this summer? I have some ideas now that I had the opportunity to go to a Summer Camp Expo put on by Bear Essential News! It took place at the Tucson Mall on March 7. A lot of booths were set up, and I got the chance to talk to a few of the people at the booths. The event was put on for local businesses to promote their summer camps. 

Upon arriving, I had the pleasure of meeting Renee from Bear Essential News! Renee was very informative and polite, and she let me practice a few questions with her before I interviewed some of the company representatives at the booths. 

This event is an amazing opportunity to learn all about things to do in the summer in town! Renee told me that 12 local companies took part in the Summer Camp Expo. I didn’t get to meet all of those representing the companies, but I did get to visit most of the booths.

The first booth I visited was Ben’s Bells. I got to talk with Liz, the Education Manager. “We teach about the benefits of kindness and inspire people to practice kindness, and we have a summer camp called Camp Kind,” said Liz. Fun fact…my school, Tucson Country Day School, is a “Be Kind” school, and we even have a Ben’s Bells mural.

The booth I went to next was Drama Kids. Ben, the Director of Drama Kids, told me, “Our mission is to develop kids through theater. We take all kids regardless of experience or skill and personal challenge, because we are developing kids through theater…”

Next I talked to Amaya who works for Literacy Connects, a non-profit organization. The program she works with through Literacy Connects is called Story Share. “What Story Share is, that ages five to 18 can write stories about whatever they want, and they can bring those stories to life through animation or live performance or honestly anything that they can think of…” said Amaya.

Last, I talked to Emmy from Valley of the Moon. Emmy told me, “Valley of the Moon is a non-profit historical landmark in Tucson, Arizona, and it’s 2.2 acres of fun and safe magical fantasy fun. Valley of the Moon has events, summer camp and also we do shows.”

Bear Essential put on this summer camp expo, and it was part of a big event called Safety First Saturday put on by Tucson Medical Center. The event was packed, but I had a really great time. I even found a summer camp that was perfect for me!