Piney Chapel Elementary students perform the musical “Going on a Picnic” for a packed house June 28, 2018, the last day of the school's 21st Century Community Learning Center grant-funded summer camp.

The stormy weather Thursday didn’t stop parents and grandparents from celebrating the last day of Piney Chapel’s summer camp with their children, who wowed them with a musical performance of “Going on a Picnic.”

Funded by a 21st Century Community Learning Center grant, this is the second year Piney Chapel has extended their 21st CCLC after-school program into the summer.

Starting June 5, the 50 students enrolled in the program have done everything from Science Technology Engineering and Math activities to weekly field trips to places like the McWane Center in Birmingham and the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere.

This year, 21st CCLC Lead Teacher Jessica French said they added several new components to the summer program including the musical performance, and optional ballet and martial arts classes.

Dressed as spiders, ladybugs and caterpillars, the students who participated in the five-song musical prepared for weeks, learning their speaking parts and constructing costumes out of pipe cleaners and poster board.

At the beginning of camp, about 20 students signed up for the martial arts class, where they learned basic stances, how to block and proper kicking techniques. Rocket City Martial Arts in Madison provided the instructor.

“Some enjoyed it more than others,” French said. “It was amazing to see how much they had retained at the end of the program.”

Longtime Athens-based dance instructor Francita Meaux led the ballet class, which consisted of seven girls. Meaux’s troupe spent two hours each week learning to plié, rond de jambe and tendu.

The martial artists and ballerinas got to show off their new skills to their families Thursday before the musical performance.

French said the summer camp is important because it gives prekindergarten and elementary students opportunities they might not otherwise have. Free for children who receive free or reduced lunch, the summer program also includes bus transportation. Families who do not qualify for free or reduced lunch pay a nominal fee for the camp.

Breakfast and lunch are provided each day, and on Tuesdays they have Pizza Hut delivered, which French said is a huge hit.

“It gives them something positive to do in the summer where they can learn and have fun,” she said.

“Our goal at the beginning of the summer was to make them learn without them ever knowing that they were learning. I think we accomplished that.”

Plans to provide a 21st CCLC summer camp to Piney Chapel’s children again next summer are already in the works.