Each summer, the Georgia Migrant Education Summer Program brings about 60 children to the campus of Georgia Southern University for a two weeks of camps of varied educational, artistic and athletic activities.

The program is an extension of the federally funded Migrant Education Program coordinated by the Georgia Department of Education to help support the children of migrant workers with supplemental academic and social services. Georgia Southern hosts two week-long camps, each for 30 children, annually in June — one for middle schoolers and one for high schoolers.

Campers receive rigorous academic instruction, primarily in English and math, in the mornings to help ease the learning gap often created by frequent moves.

On one recent day, campers visited with the Tormenta FC professional soccer team, then went to the Georgia Southern Museum, the Wildlife Education Center and the Planetarium. Art classes and evening reading time are also part of the curriculum, and soccer, dancing and singing are the favorite social activities to close out each day.