SAN BENITO — Evelyn Bernabe moved her hand up and down the neck of the electric guitar to play power chords that crunched.
She learned three rock-n-roll songs with her summer rock band that is performing today at the summer camp showcase at Leal Elementary.
One of the songs the band will be playing – “With or without you,” originally composed by the famous rock band U2.
“I like guitar because it’s been my thing since I was 5 years old,” Bernabe said. “I play instruments because my family likes instruments.”
She is one of 350 students throughout the district who attended the STAR Summer camp that focuses students on concepts of sciences, technology, arts and robotics.
“We are bringing in everything that is space related and math related,” said Gloria Garcia, San Benito CISD camp coordinator. “The students are learning how to download music, move files to the thumb drive and learning their way around the computer.”
And that is not all the students learned during the last six weeks.
Students were able to participate in chess class, robotics, science lab, rock band, ballet folklorico, arts and crafts and used a planetarium to learn about the stars.
The students learned about the star field and constellations with the district’s planetarium called the star lab.
“I liked it because it was an experience I never had before,” said Yazmin Bernabe. “It was pretty cool.”
She said it was her first time being in a planetarium and she felt closer to the stars.
“I learned about the constellations,” Bernabe said. “It was really fun learning about the stars.”
The Afterschool Program in the San Benito School District has been serving the children for 18 years.
Since 1999, the Afterschool Program has been funded by federal, state, and local funds.
The students were also taken on field trips to area museums and the bowling alley.
“We exposed the students to activities they are not exposed to,” Garcia said. “We allow them to engage in activities that normally they wouldn’t engage in.”
