Gulf Coast Journal with Jack Perkins; 408; Comedy Camp, Carefree Learner, Young Chef's Academy, Circus Camp

This special presentation was produced in high definition by W. edu Tampa St. Petersburg Sarasota. Boys and Girls. What did you do on your summer vacation. Ah you went to circus camp. You learned to cook. You went out on a boat and did some learning. More. To learn how to write a book. Once one has time. To master. All of me. On this voluble Gulf Coast. Draw. This new production is exclusively brought to you through a generous grant from the Gold Coast Community Foundation of Venice. Building strong community leadership partnership and down the land. Dear Journal it's a familiar cycle all year kids during school

planning to do then come late train out of school summer vacation and unfold the inevitable question. They can do on your son the racial hope that the theme of our Journal this morning to you on your summer vacation used to be a summer vacation meant. Camp with sleeping bags and mosquitoes I'm making lanyards now days. Camp lightly making jelly. These are some physical war. Very very easy to kind of get a little bit I sounds like something you'd hear in an exercise class. Everybody lie down on your back. And I mean this room has been recreated. You're right I want you to take a deep breath. But don't be fooled this is not gym class. Oh it's summer

camp. We're going to punch us out we're going to go home. No sunburns mosquito bites poison ivy threats at this indoor camp. OK you cannot be too loud in this class. I will tell you that right now. But there is a fair share of yelling One two three. I was all in the name of learning how to make people laugh. So it's very important in this class that when you're watching people want stuff and they're trying stuff. No matter how goofy it is no matter how silly it is no matter how stupid it is say. What you want to do. Just want to watch it with an open mind and is it fun. Welcome to comedy camp It's the brainchild of comedians Les McCurdy and Samsung's joke telling storytelling improv games.

And that's that's really the basis of it. Jeremy ya each summer and Lashon can conduct a one week comedy camp teaching kids ages 8 to 12. The fundamentals of humor that's what you have to do really at this level where everybody in the home can hear you can take a walk. Take a live look at last thing happen. That. Like most camps there is storytelling time. Evil Space Cowboy being the law. Breaking forgot my leg they suddenly appeared in the bumper cars. Humpty Dumpty Shelagh right there are camp songs. The survival training just in that microphone being right there running your mouth. Right about there is a good place for a bit.

And even a little science. Kalari. That. Like. Come quiet. Right. Yeah I have a joke telling I wasn't required the first day of chaos. Ladies and gentleman with a big round of applause. Jerry Jerry. What Jeremy Camp has been here before so he came prepared. Why did the apple cross the road. Great and original material is not required. Well the one I told this morning was from the juice box that I was looking in the pantry for some. Students attending camp laugh a lot for many reasons. Some want to build confidence. On a scale from 1 to 10. I. Know.

Some are considering career options. Well. Right now it's on the good and coming. Times. Or get. Done. And others. Have absolutely no idea why they're here. We get in from all walks of life. So some of the class clown and some are. Introverted but they love comedy and I want to be able to attempt it more on an intellectual level. The Kurdish Comedy Theatre has been a mainstay in Sarasota for 18 years. Many of these campers are standing in the same hot spot as some of the biggest stars in comedy. Jeff Foxworthy Ron why Larry the Cable Guy started here. David Brenner a line lawyer Jackie Mason Chris Rock.

On the last day they did test drive what they've learned on friends and family. That. We have lost from your kids this week we got a lot of our all right here I have some pain. Do they go on with the process and we're really happy and off your kids a few funny monologues quickly warm up the crowd. How many does it take to screw in a like Mo. Three Why is surely the same about how good the old one was all scripted skits warm up the performers. Like to me. Oh. Right. Why are. You. Worried.

Oh I was. There with you. In places where they don't think that they're going to deal with something in the moment and they're going to get a laugh. And that is an amazing feeling. But. You created that and you don't expect that at all and you know. Why. Would you fire in that MNM battery. She threw away all know me you see. In the end the comedy campers learned. The same basic skills or. How to survive alone. Discovering you have and become one with nature. Human. Right. What did you do on your summer vacation.

I learned time a punchline. Or. Just learned. Got on a boat and went out. And learned. The row. Height isn't coming. I get up about one thirty five. Now this is the way to learn Marine Sciences. Water's going to be wavelets instead of sitting in a classroom the Sarasota high school students are sitting on board the carefree learner. Look around for little guys. All right. Tommy young spends a couple of hours almost every school day in his element on Sarasota Bay teaching Marine Science. Plus you're pulling his weight as boat coordinator caretaker and historian. The carefree learner is briefly Sarasota high school's floating classroom. It's a unique thing it's a student student and community project it was built by teachers and students Sarasota high school spent in the water for 29 years and it's really just a little piece of heaven for me having a house and an absolutely

divine teaching pool complete with true aquarium was just right for fish. The state awarded these folks a special permit to catch these curious creatures were put on trial behind the boat for approximately two minutes. We'll get our catch on board company of these fiberglass trays students will take it to their workstations they measure and record all the organisms that we catch. Oh the things they catch these guys are really pretty good. They want to breed again. And this is the lion seahorse male male sea horse. This is the girl's favorite story this is the story we all hate. This seahorse recently gave Bart has got his little stretch marks all here so they have that US puppy there where probably within the last couple weeks gave birth to like 75 to 100 young and the things they learn. So whatever these guys are DECA pods tends to.

Talk and to say you actually got over there like yeah the admiration between students and teacher is mutual but after 35 years of teaching in the classroom and on the boat now Tommy young now is told he must retire. Hard to imagine the carefree learner without him but they'll grow back. Really my entire life has been honor in this respect. It's going to be a try out life change. Pretty darn good superstars well done. Carefree learner continues due south about 15 minutes from downtown Sarasota and now the focus shifts to birds. There are nuances not hard to see why Aubrey Tucker has her sights set on becoming a marine biologist. Aubrey is one of the Sarasota high students whose research could save Robert's fate rookery. Once home to 900 nesting pairs. Now Roberts Bay can only

sustain half that number. Three and her classmates cleaned the island and carefully counted birds all year. So they wanted some answers. The gals from I just have 57 2006 and we have served a change in the islands how they've shrunk how they've grown how is the canopy area. How have they moved eastward. What has this been a direct correlation to vote registration and a partial victory. The students were allowed to post voluntary no wake zone signs around these fragile fragmented islands here. The real coup for our brave compressible comrades. Their research became the catalyst for plans to build a protective barrier around the rookery Island as a wall of rocks it's kind of like a sea wall while it's a solid slab of concrete that doesn't stand up a lot of hurricanes whereas this is a wall of rocks that allows a water pass in and out so it can

continue to flush out the islands but it breaks down the energy of the waves before the waves hit the shore way which is the ultimate goal. If they shave the sand which supports the mangrove trees the birds keep their homes. So instead of watching a steady decline the rookery should soon thrive with new life. For making a difference to make a difference. Here we are in a better place. So what did you do on summer vacation while another kind of camp. Taught kids something

that they can use for a lifetime. We didn't have camps like this when I was a kid unfortunately so I didn't learn it until until the Army taught me. Camp would be a better way. We are going to read a story today talks about strawberry short cakes. A new recipe exciting. Ways to pour the milk into the bowl. It surely needs to be used now so. Wait a minute. What kind of cookbook is this. Was not how you'd been bad. Goodness for these kids under cook here storytime serves as an appetizer for what's to come. So are you ready to make strawberry shortcake your own little strawberry shortcake. OK. Does anybody know how to haul a strawberry. And what they learned in this class. Well the basics of cooking. It's what we call made from block which is in French means everything in order.

Beginning with reading the recipe allow. You. To do things. You can. This. Is a chicken. Organizing the ingredients. Mixing them all together. Not as easy as an Easy Bake Oven. It's very a. Very very handsome or very educational and. Fun. Fun. Fun for the children. It's fun for us too. Fun is the main ingredient at young chefs Academy a cooking school designed for kids anywhere from 4 to 17. You just do it for your time separate started by two moms from Waco Texas. The idea to stir kids curiosity about food. Is. Just scrolling on Twitter they started a franchise now up 264 franchises.

When Linda zenga and her husband Joe opened their franchise in Northport classes filled up almost immediately. We're not surviving says Linda who believe in official calling it need desperately overdue. That's right it's like a lot to me. So it's just bringing the children back into the kitchen with their families is very important to me. I just think it's a great honor. Do they keep their hands clean with it. When the list is right. There are lots of cooks in the kitchen in the junior chefs class the program for seven to 11 year olds is the Academy's most popular for both sexes. And we have as many girls. As boys. In this class. Story time is replaced with the side of geography there. First we're going to do this we're going to talk to her is one of the spices. OK so the first thing we're going to do is we're going to prepare the chicken. Weekly classes at the Academy are 90 minutes long giving students enough time to

prepare two recipes. How many of these are going to use. The ring. That's one quarter cup we need three of them. Also on the menu lessons in table setting menu planning etiquette and importantly kitchen safety three fingers on the handle broke your thumb. Is your mother and therefore your son. Do you go from point like give it a song. Countdown. 14 year old Michael silat he enjoys sharing his culinary savvy with the pre-teen crowd. I think kids are really interested in knowing that it's something hands on and a lot of kids like to do stuff like that. And you don't really get to pursue that kind of stuff in school most of the time. He says young chefs Academy has given him the ingredients to dream big. After I got to high school I plan on going to Johnson away also and pursuing a con artist and then I like to open up my own restaurant possibly a bakery.

There you are in school so. Yeah. After everything is chopped mixed and shimmered comes the best part of all. Yes I know you did some time ago. The parents locked the classes because the children now I tasting different foods and vegetables that perhaps they hadn't before and that's the only thing that we as a put children. To taste what they create so they taste and now they kind of think they like their taste and. A pinch of creativity a dash of discovery a whole heap of fun. That. Is what cooking should be. And if by chance these young chefs walk away with. More than that. That's just icing on the cake. What did you do on your summer vacation well. This is the Gulf Coast and the Gulf Coast by history and heritage. I mean circus.

There are few spectacles that can thrill quite like the circus. Contagious energy death defying feats. Your sense of fun. You can work its magic on all of us but especially. Here in Sarasota a city rich in circus history. Some lucky youngsters experienced a little circus Magic Club. Ladies and gentlemen children of all ages I bring you. The circus. The. Circus is very different. Very challenging and I don't really think they have an idea what they're getting into when they walk in the door. The camp is offered by the sailors circus an afterschool program. Run by the Police

Athletic League. It turns students into star. If you've ever gone to a professional circus you would see. Everything that they do. Right here. Only. For my young student. Director Patti Campbell has been involved in the Saylor circus and she was a child all five of her children are performed in it as well. She says Summer camp is a chance to share that enthusiasm. I want them to have the same memories that I still have. And that the friends the challenges the talent. All of it. My God the greatest little show on earth the same a circus has been around almost 60 years. But this is the first time. It has offered summer camp. As far as. Performers. Let's. Say. For two weeks campers soak up circus fundamentals from costuming and clowning. To attempting the tricks they watched the

pros perform. That's always a brat. That. Everybody. Shayler circus performers service camp counselors Kristen Randall is usually gliding across the high wire. For her this is a different kind of balancing act. Like straight out. To bring about. The very young but they seem to be having a lot of fun. That's the strong confidence builder it teaches teamwork and. Trust. Teaches you so many. I knew I. Was. Not going to. Risk taking is fundamental for any performer worth a shot. Seven year old from Sonora is learning what that means. I mean that. He was. Clearly. Kind of enjoying yourself love. And. You have to. Put. Down your. On. Your sleeve. Madison Cox thinks. She might want to join the

circus. You know what they're doing and start signing you never know which they're going to do next. Oh. I get I want to. Join. The jet. Ski. Ten year old Yoshi finds was a little unsure about circus camp at first. But now is discovering talent said he didn't know he head. For some reason I could just hear it. And like this experience a lot of fun to perform there. How did you know up to like here. Or at I level. Like that. Camp counselor and group crowd is uncovering some raw talent in quite a few of these kids. He wants them to know what it feels like to dazzle a crowd. Right. Here in the cheers. Class live as they can for you just get your. Very timely. Make sure we get the Son of God.

I. Don't come out all the too soon. I think our involvement majoring here is for. Them to have. I myself. Try. To encourage them to challenge themselves for new and different things and to be okay with the songs. On the final day of camp. The Big Finish campers prefer to put on a show for family and friends. They're. Out. There years. And getting close to show time. The anticipation the nerves are. Building. It's the butterflies in your stomach when you're standing there waiting to go out. It's the nervousness it's the sweats. And then as soon as you get out there. Where you. Fall or whether you do it. Perfectly. That on. Their flat. Their smile. Tells you. You did a great job. On the show isn't perfect. It is courageously executed and delightfully she.

Writes Sure. Real Why is destined to be a juggling act. Or even a time. Walking on a wire. Richard good idea to make it fun. The lesson you're never too young to learn. Well I put some of the kids around the Gulf oil field on their summer vacation and every fall this month now in a local funeral. Home you will make them if you want to move away from the for many Asian young people and I found you know a fellow who has a much more. Emotional to me. For.

Life I don't think she can. Play around. With me and this is why I'm. Here when you make. All. And and move on. But. You. Do I don't really know. And there is a zebra. If you can do this or any other volume of a Gulf Coast journal with Jack Perkins on a high quality DVD format for just one thousand ninety nine plus shipping and handling you call 1 800 3 5 4 9 3 3 8. Or visit our website at W edu dot org. Ah. Ah.

This w edu production is exclusively brought to you through a generous grant from the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice. Building strong communities leadership partnership and endowed philanthropy. Work.