Summer Camp Infrastructure and TheoDoor
Summer Camp Infrastructure and TheoDoor
This is my summer camp infrastructure and TheoDoor blog post. It isn't the THINGS. It was what I could now do with those things.
What Is a TheoDoor?
It was one of my summer camp kids that came up with this idea! There are a lot of tools that are required to run a summer camp. But when kids and tools come together, there is chaos!
Kadyn's brilliant strategy was to lay the tools out in a space and create outlines to place them. Then they placed them by mechanical and typical use. I just built infrastructure around it.
The following camp another young genius (My friend, Genivieve) named my door storage system, "TheoDOOR". That was a stroke of genius. Now there are FOUR TheoDOORS!
The BioLab TheoDOOR
The BioLab has a dutch door. This is by design. One of the roles of the BioLab door is to be open above, but secured below. This allows for students and urban farmers to keep animals safely contained within the BioLab but still allow for tools and air to circulate above.
In the winter and early spring, the BioLab will double as a greenhouse facility. So TheoDoor III and IV will be dedicated to tools for growing food and conducting basic biological experiments. I love the way the boots get arranged around the doors.
Helping Engineers Become Engineers
It's useless to have tools for use if you do not educate and empower young people to understand, use, and respect tools. They see them naturally as toys. But they cannot be treated like toys.
These tools are expensive and exclusive and they require knowledge, experience, and imagination to use. That is why the TheoDoor system is so important. It reminds kids that these tools live in a special kingdom, free of rain, sunlight, and prying hands.
That last part: rain, sun, and prying hands is CRITICAL. 12 critical pieces of equipment were lost due to carelessness. Tools lost in bushes, or left out, or just broken and never mentioned for fear of retribution. That last part is where the most important part of growth at Mezzacello matters.
This is WHY I do what I do. I want people to grow naturally. I want young people to be, see, explore who they believe they are. This is a good dream and it is worth dreaming about.
This is a part of the City of Columbus Parks and Recreation Summer Grant Grant #1521-2023