The Tustin Summer Academy is full of sights and sounds, and smells, that aren’t usually associated with a traditional summer camp.
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The scent of fresh sourdough drifts from one room as the aroma of Korean soul food fill the air in another.
Elsewhere, middle schoolers are screaming in delight as they turn a game of robot soccer into a battle bots competition.
And, over in the library, campers are working on tablets and drawing pads to create physical books they will publish.
Campers Brooklyn Takeno, center, and Nahal Saatian, right, react as intern Shannon Tsai takes fresh sourdough from the oven during the “Sourdough Lab: From Starter to Showstopper” class at the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Campers prepare for robot soccer at the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Riley Saunders works on artwork during “Publish Your Own Children’s Book!” class at the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Camp Director Erick Fineberg fist bumps intern Simon McDougal before a tour of the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Intern Sarah Sanchez helps Josephine Woo during “Publish Your Own Children’s Book!” class at the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Camp director Erick Fienberg, left, high-fives Mia Shih as she cooks Korean food with fellow campers Abby Guo and Kennedy Cox during the “Soul Food: A Culinary Journey” class at the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Brandon Ta, left, Noah Wei, center, and Luca Spezza practice controlling their robots at the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Intern GIselle Looney, center, works with campers Abby Guo, left, Kennedy Cox and Mia Shih, right, as they season Korean food during the “Soul Food: A Culinary Journey” class at the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Mehtaab Sethee, left, and Ayaan Shah work on a robot at the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Intern Brandon Park, center, helps campers Aaron Blue and Neev Bommaiah as they build robots at the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Tyler Pobiner works on artwork during “Publish Your Own Children’s Book!” class at the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
A camper’s starter during the “Sourdough Lab: From Starter to Showstopper” class at the Tustin Summer Academy in Tustin on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The camp’s director, Erick Fineberg, said 12,500 students have gone through the summer enrichment program since he started the camp in 2011.
Fienberg said the idea came while talking to friends at a softball game 15 years ago, “Hey, we need to find something for the kids that aren’t necessarily into sports, and aren’t necessarily really high or really low. They’re just the majority.”
He started with 300 kids and a few classes. Today, there are 1,750 campers in 41 classes held during two two-week modules.
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Classes such as, “Sourdough Lab: From Starter to Showstopper,” “Soul Food: A Culinary Journey” and “Publish Your Own Children’s Book” are designed for elementary and middle school students.
Fienberg said the camp is “an opportunity to provide curriculum that’s not offered during the school year so students can experience something new and see if there’s an interest there”.
Helping the teachers are a cadre of high school-age interns.
One of those interns, Kiana Fedewa, was a camper when she was younger.
Now she finds “the best part of being an intern is our personal connection with the students,” she said.
Talking about those connections, Fedewa, a Beckman High senior, said she had a little boy who would wait at the front gate for her every day of the camp and insist she take him to class. On the last day of camp, “he said, ‘Miss Kiana, you have to promise’… and he stumbled through the sentence… ‘that you will never forget me.’ And then he admitted, ‘Because I’ll never forget you.’”
She lamented about leaving the program, “I’ve grown up with it, it’s where I’ve learned new things, met new people and it’s really hard to imagine myself without it”
Fineberg said the best thing about the camp is, “opportunity… everyone comes together for this program. It’s awesome.”
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