Telangana's brightest minds are being honed at Summer Samurai residential camps 

The Telangana Social Welfare Residential School (TSWRS) in Kondapur is bustling with the energy of 350+ students from classes VI and VII, who are attending Summer Samurai, a 15-day residential summer camp. This is the second edition of the camp initiated by the Telangana Social Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TSWREIS) and the Telangana Tribal Welfare Residential Educational Institutions Society (TTWREIS) under the stewardship of Secretary Dr R S Praveen Kumar, IPS. If the name doesn't ring a bell already, let us refresh your memory. He is the officer who spotted the talent of Poorna Malavath, a product of TTWREIS and the youngest girl to climb Mount Everest. Later on, a movie titled Poorna was also made with ace actor, Rahul Bose playing Dr Kumar’s character.

Creya Learning is a Hyderabad-based company, which works in the education space and designs STEM, design thinking, 21st-century skills programmes and much more

Now, with Summer Samurai, he intends to provide students with summer learning opportunities. Alongside the societies is Creya Learning and Research Pvt Ltd, one of the partners that run Summer Samurai, particularly the one in Kondapur. They call it Creya's MeerKats Summer of Discovery. "This year it's all about teaching them 21st-century skills," inform the co-founders, Datla V Reddy and Praveen B Vudoagiri.

Group op: Summer of Samurais batch all set for the Creya Discoverer Camps

This year, children at this co-ed camp are divided into groups of three and introduced to four core modules. From shooting an animated movie to building a war machine to designing a secret Morse Code, the camp encompasses several areas. Other essential skills like first aid and navigation are also taught. In the evening, children sit down to watch movies like Stanley Ka Dabba and Poorna, and they take part in a book reading session. They even hold discussions on various topics like sports personalities.

With this camp, Creya aims at teaching engineering design skills and digital media skills, while also imbibing "appreciation of different forms of books and movies," explains Praveen. They even encourage students to maintain a journal throughout the camp, which helps them introspect about what they learn at the end. And for the co-founders, what mattered was that the children were "learning how to collaborate and learning new and important skills."

On the tab: Working on the Stop Motion Movie

The camp started on April 14 and will end on April 28. On the last day, the children will display their best work. They will be given participation certificates. Dignitaries such as MLAs and collectors will be a part of this function as well. While this camp might end soon, we are sure that the third edition of Summer Samurai will be bigger and better than ever.

What the Samurais have to say -

We enjoy a lot at the camp because there are so many activities. I learn a lot and gather a lot of knowledge

N Ganesh, 14, TSWRS, Kondapur

The camp is superb and I enjoy it. I enjoy constructing war machines. I also feel so much more confident now

D Sanjana, 12, TSWRS, Adilabad

It is my first time away from home and I like the camp very much. I enjoy reading books and spending time with my friends while doing various activities. I will miss my teachers from the camp

K Madhuri, 12, TSWRS, Kokat

I loved making stop motion animation movies and taking photos using the tablet. We made a movie about a boat in the ocean and how it faces certain problems

B Pavan Kumar, 12, TSWRS, Anumula