An international summer training experience completed by a trio of Bermudians will benefit local schoolchildren.

Nicola Paugh, Khalid Davis and Jeanene Todd took part in an eight-day training course at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas.

The six-day camps are centred on academic and social learning using components including games and team-building activities.

The experience will allow them to run Quantum Learning Network SuperCamps on the island, organised as part of the youth development Mirrors Programme.

Ms Paugh, recruitment manager for Mirrors, said the camps provided students with tools to be more effective in the classroom.

She added: “It’s a camp to set them up for success.”

Ms Todd, partner manager for Mirrors, added: “It’s about having fun — having them see that learning can be exciting again.”

Ms Paugh said the training, carried out last month, would allow Bermuda’s SuperCamps to be more sustainable because of a reduction in the need for off-island personnel.

Mr Davis, a Mirrors volunteer, added: “When it comes to Bermudians in general, one of the big things that they have concerns about is people coming, creating relationships, and then disappearing.

“I think it’s a big difference when you have facilitators that come with knowledge of the culture already.”

Ms Paugh said that Mirrors wanted to provide not only SuperCamps but training for schools in SuperCamp methods.

She explained: “We need to have local expertise to be able to do that.”

Ms Paugh added that Mirrors would run a pilot programme with a middle school in September.

She added: “This is all about maximising student engagement.”

There have been four SuperCamps — two for middle school pupils, and two in high schools — in Bermuda.

The next SuperCamp, for pupils aged 11 to 13, will begin on August 21.

Openings for both students and volunteers are still available.

Mr Davis, a teacher at CedarBridge Academy, said that volunteering was good for professional development.

He said: “There’s nothing like putting yourself into a setting where there are other people who are around who are professionals as well — to give you feedback, to push you, to make you better.

“I have not seen anything better.”

Ms Paugh said that volunteering was a way for members of the public to help youngsters.

She added: “The volunteers are actually the individuals that coach and support the young people through camps. “They are the big brothers and big sisters that help the teams to function.”

Social development minister Michael Weeks said: “Mirrors relies on community volunteers to create the positive, supportive environment necessary for learning and growing.”

Anyone wishing to sign up as a volunteer can take a two-day training course on August 19 and 20.

A two-day parent workshop is being offered in conjunction with the camp on August 25 and 26.

For more details, call 294-9291 or visit mirrors.bm