Tanner Elementary summer camp students sit in rapt attention as Dawn Hagood, a gemologist from Osborne’s Jewelers in Athens, shows them a curious mix of brilliant gemstones and fossilized creatures.

Holding up an ammolite shell from Canada, Hagood points out how silica causes parts of the shell to opalize and how gemologists use the opal extracted from the spiral-shaped shells to make rings. The group of students from grades 4-6 whisper excitedly to one another, fascinated by the fossilized lobster, chunk of volcanic rock and piece of petrified wood Hagood pulls from a weathered shoebox.

The gemologist’s visit coincides with the school’s geology-themed day camp, which runs June 4-28. The camp is an extension of the school’s newly established 21st Century Community Learning Center grant-funded after-school program. The county secured the grant three years ago to start 21st CCLC classrooms at Piney Chapel and Owens elementary schools. The grant has since expanded to include all of the elementary schools in the district.

Moving to a display box filled with brightly colored birthstones, Hagood asks the students if they know their birthstone. The majority did not.

“That was my favorite part,” said Paige Castrejon, who discovers her birthstone is a garnet during the presentation. The sixth-grader was even more fascinated when Hagood told her the stone is unique because it comes in an array of colors.

Moving onto another display box, Hagood explains how identifying gemstones requires a good deal of detective work.

“Did you know if you put a piece of peridot under a microscope it has lily pad inclusions on it?” Hagood asked the class. “And that if you look at amber real close you can sometimes see tiny bugs trapped in it?”

Fifth-grader Jason Novalis, who was planning to become a magician someday, is now considering a career in gemology.

“It’s something I had never heard of,” he said. “But, now that I know what a gemologist does, it seems like something I could get into.”

According to Tanner Elementary Principal Angie Barnes, the 21st Century summer camp is all about exposing students to new experiences and expanding their horizons.

“We are so glad to be able to offer this program to the kids in this community,” said lead teacher Lori Gibson. “It opens up a whole new world for them.”

In addition to bringing in guest speakers like Hagood, the 73 students enrolled in the summer camp have toured Cathedral Caverns; will soon get a lesson from Rogers Group Inc., experts on crushed stone aggregates and gravel; and will also get to explore Burritt on the Mountain in Huntsville and McWane Science Center in Birmingham later this month. A sampling of yoga and art classes are also included in the camp’s curriculum.

Low-cost summer camps like the one at Tanner Elementary were made possible by a $1.35 million 21st CCLC grant from the U.S. Department of Education.