After moving from Columbia, Brooke Bazzle will enter the sixth grade at Kennedy Middle School.
Thanks to The Family Y's day camp in Graniteville, Brooke has met a lot of kids attending the school.
"It's been a lot of fun," she said Thursday. "We play a lot of games. I like the worship (service), too. We get to dance and sing, and it's really my favorite."
The camp has been growing rapidly - from 80 kids in 2014 to 120 this summer, said Kimberly Vonalmen, The Family Y's membership services director.
The facility receives $74,000 from businesses, organizations and individuals to provide scholarships. Of the enrollment, about 80 percent of the children are attending the camp on the scholarships, Vonalmen said.
Megiddo Dream Station, a Graniteville nonprofit organization that teaches unemployed men and women how to become better job candidates, has provided lunch for the campers every day for the past 10 weeks.
"A lot of these kids wouldn't have anywhere to go during the day," Vonalmen said. "My own child, Ellen, is 6; and she thoroughly enjoys it here."
The Family Y shares the facility on Trolley Line Road with Cedar Creek Church's West Campus. Church staff and others working with the day camp have offered WOW - Worship on Wednesday.
The children's service during the camp models the church's regular Sunday children's service with music, games and Bible lessons, said Campus Pastor Wes Holbrook.
"The Family Y is all about putting Christian principles into practice with programs that develop the mind, body and spirit," he said. "We're sort of the spirit piece in the partnership we have with the Y."
Most of the kids are from age 5 through middle school. Several up to age 21 are special-needs young people, formally attending "Camp Puzzle Palooza."
Many of The Family Y's camp counselors are educators, among them Holly Thompson, a graduate of South Aiken High School and the University of South Carolina.
She will begin her teaching career at Ridge Spring-Monetta High School this month.
"This is really helping me, teaching me about management and getting to know the kids," Thompson said. "It's challenging and so much fun."
Steadman Boston, also a South Aiken graduate, will begin his junior year at Winthrop University. He plans to teach at the middle-school level.
As a Teacher Cadet his senior year at South Aiken, Boston got to meet Kennedy Middle School students who needed a lot of help.
"I love being able to work here at the camp," he said. "A lot of these kids wouldn't have the opportunity to come to camp. It's great to see them with smiles on their faces."
Senior writer Rob Novit is the Aiken Standard's education reporter and has been with the newspaper since 2001.