Tuesday, June 25, 2019
  Around Campus, Community

By Amanda Alaniz

 PHOTO GALLERY by Silver Salas
Password: campmario (case sensitive)

EDINBURG, TEXAS – Lions and tigers and … boa constrictors?

The Team Mario Fun Fridays Summer Camp at the UTRGV Edinburg Campus took explorers on a trip into the wild with Animal Adventures, starting with a nursery rhyme to the Shel Silverstein poem, “Boa Constrictor.”

UTRGV has hosted the summer camp for several years, with each activity designed for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Founded by Melinda Moreno – whose son, Mario, was diagnosed with ASD after his second birthday – Team Mario is designed to educate, support and advocate for children and families affected by autism.

“I feel like these summer camps give children the opportunity to make friends, have fun, grow and find acceptance,” said Lisa Beccera, the organization’s program director. “We often take for granted all the little things that come so easy to us. Our camp gives children an opportunity to find their own voice and believe in themselves. It’s amazing what one camp can do in the lives of children.”

During Animal Adventures, the children made animal puppets, painted animal boxes and went into a “Time Machine” to visit dinosaurs at UTRGV’s H-E-B Planetarium.

Fun Fridays Summer Camp takes place every Friday from June 14 to July 12, with each day dedicated to a different theme.

Each camp is filled with activities for participants, ranging from crafts to games to creating their own snacks. More than 20 participants signed up for the camp ranging in age from 8 to 15.

To learn more about Team Mario, visit teammario.org.

Team Mario Fun Fridays Summer Camp
The Team Mario Fun Fridays Summer Camp at the UTRGV Edinburg Campus took explorers on a trip into the wild with Animal Adventures last week. The camp provides a range of activities designed for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Here, students visited the UTRGV H-E-B Planetarium to view a short educational film about dinosaurs. The camp takes place every Friday from June 14 to July 12, with each day dedicated to a different theme. The goal is help students with autism develop social skills and have fun. (UTRGV Photo by Silver Salas)



ABOUT UTRGV

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine, and made it possible for residents of the region to benefit from the Permanent University Fund – a public endowment contributing support to the University of Texas System and other institutions.

UTRGV has campuses and off-campus research and teaching sites throughout the Rio Grande Valley including in Boca Chica Beach, Brownsville (formerly The University of Texas at Brownsville campus), Edinburg (formerly The University of Texas-Pan American campus), Harlingen, McAllen, Port Isabel, Rio Grande City, and South Padre Island. UTRGV, a comprehensive academic institution, enrolled its first class in the fall of 2015, and the School of Medicine welcomed its first class in the summer of 2016.