Summer Camps

Although many children are preparing to go back to school next week, 70 disadvantaged youths are being treated to a healthy dose of summer fun at a Griffith Park camp this weekend that offers first-time experiences such as archery and camping. The three days at Camp Wesson are the highlight of Adrian Guzman's summer, he said. "It's a lot of fun," said Adrian, a seventh-grader at Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. Middle School in Los Angeles. "I don't get to do things like this at home."

Mitzy Hernandez is sitting quietly at her kitchen table, nibbling on a confetti-speckled strawberry Pop Tart. "She's shy at first," advises her father, Jose, as he rests on a nearby stationary exercise bicycle. Mitzy smiles, her black dangly earrings grazing her shoulders as she nods her head. The two share a glance across the living room of the small Long Beach apartment where they reside. It's a quick look, but in the instant it's evident how well the pair understand one another.

In summertime the living may be easy. But for working parents, it's far from cheap. Each year after school lets out, millions of children attend thousands of summer camps so their parents can have day care. The cost can easily run into the thousands of dollars. In Southern California, for example, about 1,400 kids pour into Tom Sawyer Camps -- a Pasadena-based operation that takes children ages 4 through 13 for eight to 10 weeks. For this, parents pay $2,700 to $4,100.

For the third straight summer, Stacey Weiss will be sending her 11-year-old twin boys to Camp Echo in Burlingham, N.Y. But even though they'll be away for eight weeks, Weiss can keep tabs on her children through photos on the camp website. "I really love the website. It adds comfort to a parent when your child is away," said the Woodcliff Lakes, N.J., resident, who will be logging on to the password-protected site to find out what her twins are up to this summer.

THIS time, the fourth time, 14-year-old Brennyn Bradley plans to banish 15, 20 pounds -- forever. "Everyone in my school is stick thin and then there's me and a couple of other people," says the tall, blond teen. "There are some people who just, like, have to rub it and say, 'You're fat.' " Corey Johnson, 10, hopes a summer of sports and healthful food will accomplish what karate, walking, swimming and a personal trainer have failed to do -- help her drop numerous pounds.

Chris CORDOVA grew up in Watts, the daughter of a widowed seamstress from El Salvador. Her late father, she was told, had a gift for mathematics. She was in middle school when a teacher insisted she try algebra a year early, then geometry, then math analysis because "I already knew everything they were talking about and I had started correcting the teacher." By the end of her sophomore year, she had taken every math course available at King Drew Magnet High School of Medicine and Science.

As many as 1,000 counselors and children at summer camps in the San Bernardino Mountains were evacuated Tuesday as a wildfire that consumed more than 100 acres approached their cabins. The U.S. Forest Service said that youths from 16 camps were shuttled down the mountains to Big Bear and Yucaipa high schools, where temporary shelters were set up. Some campers and counselors went home. The fire began about 3:15 p.m.

At Camp Bravo in the San Bernardino Mountains, kids playing their version of "Survivor" were about to jump into the pool Tuesday afternoon when they were told to get dressed -- a raging wildfire was headed their way. Counselors Lacey Phelps and Heather Macrorie, along with other staff members at the performing arts camp near Barton Flats, piled kids into their cars and made their way down the mountain.

It's summertime, and for many churches in Southern California and around the nation that means sponsoring vacation Bible schools or camp retreats. But to entice the current generation of youngsters, some new twists along with old traditions are being offered. For example, at Oriental Mission Church in Los Angeles' Koreatown, church officials decorated the sanctuary (a former supermarket) to resemble a construction site. "We are in the construction business," said the Rev.

For as long as he can remember, Randal Williams has played video games. So it wasn't surprising when he decided one day to design his own game, or that it involved a five-headed dragon that has taken control of Japan. Complicated stuff for some, but for the 11-year-old from Irvine, it all seemed logical enough. And Randal is not alone. He is one of a growing number of adolescents who are spending a part of their summer at camps learning to create video games.