Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News Campers play board games Wednesday during the 2011 Life Changing Youth Summit at McMurry University.
Nellie Doneva/Reporter-News McMurry University student Aleyne Means (from left) shows campers Nathan Tiner, Robert Madrid and Alex Fuller how to make a paper crane Wednesday during the 2011 Life Changing Youth Summit at McMurry University.
In March, former Dallas Cowboys Deion Sanders and Michael Downs visited Abilene with Bruce Carter, founder of the Life Changing Youth Summit, to announce McMurry University as the first campus committed to hosting Carter’s educational summer program.
Less than two months later, the youth program kicked off with the attendance of dozens of day campers.
The program allows local youths to spend summer months on a college campus learning the kind of skills they often don’t learn at school, said Debbi Lehr, McMurry’s conference and enrichment services coordinator.
The summit is a statewide initiative to meet the educational, psychological and nutritional needs of youths.
“We want to give children the opportunity to be on a college campus,” Carter said during his March visit. “We want to teach them to become young ladies and young men — to put PlayStation down and plant gardens and visit nursing homes.”
The program currently boasts about 30 campers, Lehr said, and they participate in community service activities, maintain a community garden and invest time in academic pursuits.
The summit will provide students nutritious meals daily with help from a variety of local organizations, including the city’s parks and recreation divisions and the Abilene Independent School District.
But Lehr said the goal is far more broad than filling empty stomachs.
“They are provided with two meals and snacks,” she said, “but they also get to learn how to be gentlemen and ladies, they get into some academics.”
To keep prices down for parents, the program covers most of the costs for campers. Children can enroll in the day camp for $5 a day, and parents are asked to make a six-day commitment.
The camp not only provides a positive experience for local youths, but allows the university to employ college students during the summer. About 40 McMurry students are serving as camp facilitators, Lehr said.
In addition, mentorship from the college students and being on campus every day encourages college attendance, she said.
During Carter’s earlier visit, he expressed an interest in encouraging youths to pursue higher education. Carter played football at Iowa Wesleyan University under coach Hal Mumme, currently McMurry’s head football coach.
He also is the founder of We Are Graduating, an educational outreach program for students committed to graduating from high school.
The summit program accepts new campers daily and runs from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday at McMurry.
For more information, call Janet Crisman at 325-793-4922.
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