DATE: Friday, April 4, 1997                 TAG: 9704040654

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NIA NGINA MEEKS, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   80 lines

PILOT SPRING BREAK CAMP DEEMED SUCCESS

For some kids, spring break means a week lounging in front of the television.

Not for 15-year-old Tony Hadley. For him and 27 other middle school Beach students, spring break meant five days to pick up skills for life.

Plus, a possible free trip Saturday to Busch Gardens.

It's all part of this week's ``Questing for Success Camp,'' a joint effort between the Beach parks and recreation department and the school district. It's designed to spare parents baby-sitting costs and prevent sixth- through eighth-graders from getting into trouble.

Organizers asked the Beach's 14 middle schools to nominate three students for this free pilot program. Its leaders called it a success, as did its campers.

``You get to meet people,'' Melissa Hayden, 11, said. She attends Independence Middle School. ``It's better than school.''

From Monday through today, the campers have been gathering from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at Plaza Middle School. Buses picked them up at four locations.

Education sessions ranging from sex to personal hygiene dominated the mornings. On Thursday, the sessions addressed managing finances and job interview skills.

``I'm learning a little bit,'' said Tony Hadley, a Landstown eighth-grader. ``I'm looking for a job. Before I thought you just sat there and they asked the questions and you asked two or three. Now I know different.''

For camp director Shannon Moore, that's the point.

``We looked at what issues were relevant and what would help them later in life,'' Moore said. ``This is an opportunity to get kids involved in issues that face them daily and opportunities to help resolve them.''

Camp for kids, of course, is not a new concept. Millions enroll in summer programs annually. Applying that concept to school breaks, however, is relatively new. For the past five years, the Norfolk Parks and Recreation Department has sponsored such a program for 6- to 12-year-old winter and spring breakers. Other cities in South Hampton Roads do not have such programs, but make adjustments for the school break schedule by providing earlier hours at recreation centers, for example.

Proponents said the camp, like after-school and summer programs, serves as a deterrent for kids with time on their hands. They say it keeps them away from drugs. Pregnancy. Crime.

Many surveys show that filling a child's day with activities curbs other problems down the road, Sanford A. Newman said. He's president of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, a national nonprofit organization that includes law enforcement officials, prosecutors, educators and crime victims.

``These kinds of programs cut risks . . . it's not conservative sense, or moderate sense or liberal sense,'' Newman said. ``It's common sense.''

Moore said this program will introduce middle school students to the after-school programs the parks and recreation department is developing for them.

Some campers stopped short of 100 percent praise for the camp. A few ills of middle school life followed them:

Gossip. Some cuss words. A few attitudes.

Still, it was better than a week of boredom, 12-year-old Virginia Evans said. She's a seventh-grader at Brandon.

``All I would do is just sit around and get no exercise,'' Virginia said.

Campers got plenty of chances to move their muscles.

While hopping and running, they learned analytical and team-building skills in games such as ``Plate Stomp,'' where teams had to strategize how to step on plates numbered 1 to 35. Then, there was ``Flip the Bird,'' a combination of team tag and rubber chicken tossing.

This time, enrollment fell short of the expected 40 students. Next time, Moore and others say the program should grow - depending on funding.

``We're very optimistic,'' said Bill Boyce, the Beach's recreation program coordinator.

So is Arica Butler. She, like her camp mates, is looking forward to the Busch Gardens trip, a reward for perfect attendance and class participation.

``If they have it again,'' the Plaza Middle sixth-grader said, ``I would come.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by L. TODD SPENCER

Children participating in the ``Questing for Success Camp'' at Plaza

Middle School in Virginia Beach play a game called ``Plate Stomp,''

where kids have to figure out how to step on plates numbered 1

through 35. The program was designed to give deterrents for children

with time on their hands.

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