“I know how things work, I was privy to that, I had a great family.. How do I then take that knowledge and those resources and give them to people who need them the most.”

Zasmine Johnson

Welcome to Navigate STL Schools, a podcast.  

Today’s guest is Zasmine Johnson, Program Manager for Blueprint4Summer, an organization that helps St. Louis area families find access to summer camps for their children. Zasmine sits down with Staci to discuss the challenges summer camp providers are facing, the importance of summer learning in stemming the summer learning loss, and how the lack of time or money should not stop families from gaining access to summer learning opportunities. 

• Zasmine’s K-12 Story
  • Her mom was an educator and gave her workbooks to complete before she even went to school.
  • Went to North County Christian, before switching to public school and attending Hazelwood Central High School. 
• Blueprint4Summer
  • Zasmine is the Program Manager for Blueprint4Summer.
  • Curates and shares data on summer camps to make summer camps in St. Louis better. 
  • They host camp summits, professional development, and other informative series.
  • Getting the resources to those who need them most is a passion for Zasmine and the reason she started working with Blueprint4Summer. 
• What is Blueprint4Summer?
  • Blueprint4Summer is a free website that helps parents and families find information about summer camps. 
  • Parents can search by type, keywords, location, cost, times, etc. 
  • This is similar to Navigate STL Schools
• What is one of the greatest challenges for St. Louis City parents when it comes to finding summer camps for their kids? 
  • Not knowing where the programs or information about the programs are.
  • A perceived barrier that they cannot afford the camp.
  • Time to plan out and search for summer programs or scholarships. 
• When is the best time for parents to start searching for, or inquiring about camp scholarships? 
  • Parents can use Blueprint4Summer’s website to search for available scholarships. 
  • Start as early as possible to start reaching out to programs. 
• What is the most requested type of camp?
  • Family survey data is showing that most parents are looking for a camp that has some sort of academics involved. 
• What has changed with camps since COVID 19?
  • The same camps are running but they are running at a smaller capacity.
  • A lot of camps are also having staffing issues. 
  • There are a lot of opportunities for older students to work at summer camps. 
• What other ways does Blueprint4Summer work with summer camp providers?
  • North County Summer Camp Fair, where North County and St. Louis City families can meet directly with possible camps. 
  • Camp Summit, where they give data to summer camp providers about where the most need is. 
  • How to do STEM on a budget. 
  • Provide scholarships directly to summer camps to give to families in need. 
• Are the free programs through the city also listed on your website?
  • They will be shortly, but are also listed on the St. Louis Youth Development Collaborative Website. 
• Outside of staffing, what are some of the bigger issues summer camps might face?
  • Issues involving capacity and not reaching the families who most need the summer camp programming.
  • How can they make the enrollment process as simple and fast as possible for families who have less time. 
• What is your favorite summer camp or summer memory?
  • Since Zasmine was so involved with sports, and her mother always kept them so engaged, family vacations were a nice break she looked forward to. 

Start searching at stl.blueprint4.com today. They are always updating with the newest information.