Thirty-five students in grades three through six are spending four days this week at Camp Invention, a program offered at Thomas Hunter Middle School. They’re learning to use critical thinking skills and work as a team to solve problems.

Volunteer camp director Lesley Hunley, who is in charge of the gifted program for Mathews County Public Schools, said such a camp typically costs $215 per student, but all the campers this week are attending free, thanks to the support of the White Trust, Mathews Community Foundation, Dominion Virginia Power and the Treakle Foundation. Lunch and transportation are included.

The program provides pay for Hunley’s five-person staff, as well as three bus drivers and two cafeteria workers, but student Clay Moughon is working with Hunley as a volunteer.
Mornings are spent at "base camp," where students do problem-solving activities and games, said Hunley, and then they break into two groups and complete curriculum modules with i...