Part summer school, part camp, the program targets children of low-income housing and financially at-risk families, providing a cultural, learning, and above all, fun experience.

In its third week, the six-week program - sponsored by the Salvation Army's Boys and Girls Club, the Aiken Housing Authority and Second Baptist Church - offers instruction on computers as well as field trips and visits from community leaders and speakers.

``It's more preventative than remedial,'' said the Rev. Douglas Slaughter, pastor of Second Baptist. ``If kids don't have anything to do all summer, then they run a greater risk of getting into trouble.''

The Rev. Slaughter said the majority of the children, ages 8 through 15, are attending the camp for free. The camp costs $250 for the six weeks, but parents are charged according to a sliding scale based on their incomes, he said.

Former Palmetto Federal president John Cunningham rounded up a group of children for a tour of Aiken's Municipal Building, and Robert Barnwell, a poet and English teacher at Augusta's Westside High School, gave a brief poetry lesson.

Eleven-year-old Remy Humphrey of Aiken said she learned that ``poetry is about lots of words and what the words mean to you.''

Christine Varg, resident services coordinator with the Aiken Housing Authority, helped chaperone a field trip to Beaufort on Monday to teach kids about the ecology and history of the area. She said the trip provided insight into the limited experiences some of the children have.