BETHLEHEM, Pa. — In 30 years, they've done it all.
Treasure hunts, Lego builds and cupcake wars. Fishing, filmmaking and becoming Red Cross certified babysitters.
More than 45,000 children have had fun learning while making friends and building confidence at Horizons for Youth summer camp.
It all began in summer 1994.
Gail Mrowinski, then a part-time worker at Northampton Community College, was walking through the Bethlehem campus when she noticed children just sitting around, inside and outside, waiting for their parents to finish workforce training.
Mrowinski knew one thing — they needed something better to do.
Mrowinski, then mother to a young son, quickly put together a dinosaur-themed activity and some simple arts and crafts projects for the kids.
Thirty years and 7,000 themed summer camps and classes later, Horizons for Youth still is growing the minds, bodies and spirits of area children.
“I liked it all,” said Mrowinski, who conceptualized the program while working at NCC under the Private Industry Council, helping adults get back into the workforce.
“I liked that they could have a chance to be in real facilities on a college campus that weren’t being used during summer."
Those included the culinary department’s kitchen, the science labs and the theater stage.
“Everything we did back then fit on a legal-sized piece of paper, front and back,” she said.
Growth of a program
With requests for more classes, Mrowinski and her team incorporated new themes and yearly classes. In two short years Horizons For Youth, or HFY, was in demand.
Word was spreading about the program's quality.
Soon that single-page of paper became a small catalog, then a bigger one.
Community Education staffers bundled catalogs in packs of 30 and hand-delivered them to all the schools in Northampton County.
“There were pallets and pallets of brochures that came in," Mrowinski said. "That was about a two-week process. Then summer fairs came along and we’d hand them out there.”
Today, HFY advertises in both paper and online catalog formats.
'It never gets old'
Teacher Krista Harrison's erupting Mentos and Diet Coke science experiment — which creates an immediate burst and flow of carbon dioxide bubbles — is a favorite camp.
You stand back and "Whoooosh!" watch their faces light up, Harrison said.
"It never gets old," she said.
Harrison volunteered with the program during high school, became a camp counselor during college, and now teaches camp and classes outside of her full-time job as a fifth-grade teacher.
“It’s one of my proudest things about the program,” Mrowinski said of those who attend, then return as instructors.
“They become strong individuals with passions they can explore.”
Harrison swoons over the interpersonal successes she sees.
"We just make sure that the kids are happily interacting," she said.
"They’re only together four days a week, so they have to learn to get along with a whole new group of 15-16 kids every single week if they attend more than one camp, which many do because their parents work full-time. Not many grownups could handle that."
Harrison also teaches an American Girl doll class.
“It’s just fun, and that’s really all that the kids want. To connect and have fun doing something they enjoy. They want to be busy, and the parents don’t want them just sitting around all summer on their electronics."Krista Harrison, Teacher, Horizons for Youth
"They learn how to make matching treasure boxes and wands for their dollies and themselves," she said. "They learn how to take care of their own fingernails, do the dolls' hair, and learn the histories of each doll.
“It’s just fun, and that’s really all that the kids want. To connect and have fun doing something they enjoy. They want to be busy, and the parents don’t want them just sitting around all summer on their electronics. It’s wonderful."
No television or electronics allowed
Campers get busy the second they walk in, Harrison said.
There might be a video on during snack time if it’s raining, otherwise it’s all hands-on, all morning.
Harrison's daughters, now 18 and 22, attended the camps every summer.
Being on NCC’s campus and classrooms for large chunks of the summer made them believe that college was something they could and wanted to do, she said.
Carrie Hirschman has a degree in human development and family studies with an emphasis on infant and early childhood. She started as a teacher with HFY in 2006 and taught at camp for four summers before becoming the program's assistant director.
“That’s when I fell in love with the program," said Hirschman, whose own little girl attends camp. "I enjoy working with children, but I really like to see the kids just have fun and learn at the same time.
“It’s just neat to see them in a different setting. They thrive and grow and do all of that while learning and making friendships too.
"It's cute — a lot of campers say they’re 'going to college' this summer. It’s their first time on a college campus."
Wrap-around childcare is an option working parents appreciate.
Child care for working parents
Wayne and Lisa Stitt of Lower Nazareth Township took full advantage of HFY’s summer offerings and child care, enrolling both of their children since kindergarten.
“There’s so much about the program we loved," Wayne Stitt said.
"They had such a variety of camps that kids don't get exposure to, at times, unless a family member does it.”
The Stitt children attended preschool at NCC’s Reibman Center, so they were already familiar with the campus and teachers.
NCC’s Reibman Hall Children’s Centers employ an arts-based emergent curriculum for children ages 2 through pre-kindergarten.
“We get the [HFY summer] booklet, go through it, let them choose what classes they like, read the blurbs as a family," Stitt said.
"We would move our vacations around the dates of the camps — they were so excited about it."
'Learning while they have fun'
One of the children, Evan Stitt, now is in high school and is hooked on filmmaking, which he fell into as a youngster in HFY’s two-week Kids TV camp, TPI, or television production institute.
TPI is led by NCC film professor and Media Production Program Coordinator Mario Acerra, who also owns a media business.
“It’s a complete package,” Wayne Stitt said of the camp. “They learn storyline, production, editing, acting, scene production."
And then they put those skills to work, making a movie from scratch.
"It’s totally camper-led," Stitt said. "They learn the skills, and then they come up with everything. There’s even a share day, when parents go and sit and watch what they’ve created — bloopers and all.
“They’re hilarious. And they make those connections with their friends, and they have a text string going when they’re not together during the school year.
"I think our kids would say that the most fun they've had has to do with those connections. Those types of memories are pretty special to them.”
Mrowinski passionately agreed.
“The program just nurtures so many principles that are important to me," she said.
“Parents can rest assured that their children are being actively engaged and are learning while they have fun."Audree Chase, associate dean, Community Education at NCC Fowler in south Bethlehem.
Evan Stitt placed first in Allentown Film Festival's youth short film horror and slapstick comedy film categories, respectively, in 2023 and 2024.
“Parents can rest assured that their children are being actively engaged and are learning while they have fun,” Associate Dean of Community Education Audree Chase said.
Chase wants parents to know that the HFY staff puts a great amount of care into the quality of the academic programming, as well as the extended care opportunity.
“Horizons for Youth always strives to offer new programs every summer. Our Black Rocket classes are particularly innovative in this regard.
"We’re always seeking sponsorships to offer scholarships to families, either from individual donors or corporations that would like to partner with us.”
Artificial Intelligence Adventures
Jane McCarthy, NCC’s assistant director of community programs, schedules cooking and other HFY classes held at the Fowler campus in south Bethlehem.
She also sets up tech classes by Black Rocket, a tech company partner that brings STEM to the summer camp.
"They do some coding, but it’s more innovative," McCarthy said. "This year they’re doing an AI Adventures class and intro to machine learning."
"I feel like my kids learned while they were having fun. They got to explore different topics that they were interested in, and then they both volunteered in the program as they got older."Jane McCarthy, NCC’s assistant director of community programs
While some Black Rocket classes have a few offerings for younger children, it is mainly for the older kids.
Both of McCarthy's daughters attended HFY. Seeing their friends every summer was their favorite thing because they didn’t see each other all school year, she said.
From a parent's perspective, McCarthy is enthusiastic about the camp experience because it shows kids their potential and makes them think about what they might want to be when they grow up.
"I feel like my kids learned while they were having fun," she said. "They got to explore different topics that they were interested in, and then they both volunteered in the program as they got older."
One took a lot of science camps and now has committed to a pursuing a doctorate in neuroscience in the fall, she said. The other is going to be an HFY camp counselor this summer and will pursue a degree in elementary education in the fall.
"She was influenced by her experience as a student in the camp but more so being a volunteer," McCarthy said of her younger daughter, who will soon graduate from high school.
"She really enjoyed working with the little kids and helping in the classroom. I think it helped her to see herself as a future teacher."
Interrupted by COVID-19
The program turned 25 in 2020, and then the coronavirus pandemic hit.
"Like everything else that year," Mrowinski said, "HFY came to a halt."
“It’s an intense 10-week summer program, and then we get a break, and then we come back and do it all over again.”Horizons for Youth Assistant Director, Carrie Hirschman
Shortly after, she made the difficult decision to hold off on summer camps. They returned in 2021 with a very limited program lineup.
It has taken some time, but things are finally getting closer to where they were pre-pandemic.
“It's probably the best branded noncredit program at the college,” Mrowinski said.
Hirschman said, "It's an intense 10-week summer program, and then we get a break.
"And then we come back and do it all over again.”
This year’s camps run Monday-Thursday, June 10-Aug. 15. Child care is available before and after the morning camps, and in the afternoons and on Fridays all day, when there is no camp.
Classes range from $115-$185 weekly. Childcare is $99 for 20 hours a week, or $145 for unlimited camp that week.
For more information, go to the Horizons for Youth page on NCC's website.
