Boys And Girls Club Members Make ‘Squash Books’ At Art Camp

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – It will be anything but a boring summer for students at one camp.

Debbie Long is teaching youngsters at Tupelo’s Northside Boys and Girls Club, how to properly fold paper for something called a “squash book.”

“It’s a fun little book that folds up really neat into a little square,” Long said.

Students will then use watercolors, to illustrate a book all about themselves. Long is an art teacher at Tupelo High School and was asked by the director of the Gumtree Museum of Art if she could help with the Boys and Girls Club’s summer camp.

She is honored to share her knowledge and love of art with these campers.

“I hope first they learn a little something about some different art techniques maybe they weren’t aware of and that they have an appreciation for the arts, I think it’s really important that all students be exposed to some sort of art-making, in early childhood especially,” Long said.

Long let students decide what to draw in their squash books.

“I am painting, I’m going to paint, the, I don’t know what I’m going to paint just yet,” said Anneshia Marshall.

“My book will be about basketball, football, and stuff like that, ” said Ezekiel McAllister.

Evie Storey is director of marketing with the Boys and Girls Clubs of North Mississippi. She believes it’s important to emphasize the arts.

“We’re hoping some little artists will emerge and of course after they get back to their local schools in the fall they will find some things they can share with others that they’ve learned and increase some of the knowledge they have and skill set they have in the area of the arts,” Storey said.

While the art class is going on, in the gym, students are learning about ballroom dance. It’s just one more example of a partnership between the Boys and Girls Clubs and the community that helps build great futures for young men and women.

The summer camp for the Boys and Girls Clubs of North Mississippi wraps up July 16th.