Most kids do not get the chance to learn about football from Division I players, but for one day, 35 local area grade school students got the chance.

The football clinic was part of the Saluki Kids Academy, a literacy camp for striving readers in the area. The academy is free to all children and the camp lasted three weeks.

Literacy tutoring takes place in the morning with a host of other activities in the afternoon. The kids went swimming, hiking, and fishing, as well as taking part in sports clinics with the football and track and field teams.

Former Saluki linebacker Juan Avila led the football clinic. Avila is in charge of community events for the athletic department, and said he jumped at the opportunity to run the clinic.

“We had so much fun with the kids, and I know that the rest of the freshman football players did as well,” Avila said.

Freshman wide receiver Jimmy Jones gave the kids a tutorial on how to do a touchdown dance. Jones was happy to be out on the field and said he believes that mentorship is important.

“It always feels good to be able to give back and teach what I have been taught,” Jones said.

The camp is run entirely by volunteers and donations of time and money from local businesses and schools. Meteicha Green, a special education teacher at General John A. Logan Elementary School in Murphysboro, has volunteered at the camp for two years.

“We have a very tight budget, we get by on donations of people’s time. Small businesses give a little here, and a little there,” Green said. “Everyone brings in what they have at home. We have a lot of teachers that bring in materials from their classrooms.”

Crystal Shelby-Caffey, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, has been the director of Saluki Kids Academy since 2013. With 35 children participating in the camp this year, Caffey said it was not easy to gather the resources she needed to make the camp possible.

When Caffey took on her new role in spring 2013, she found that the camps funding was almost completely depleted. Caffey said she worked to pull together all the resources she could and has made the camp work successfully for the past two summers.

“The camp gives me an opportunity to stay connected with local kids and teachers. I couldn’t ask for a better group of volunteers. I couldn’t do it without them,” she said.

Certified teachers that are becoming reading specialists do the morning literacy tutoring. Graduate and undergraduate students of the College of Education also get the opportunity to work with the children and teachers.

“It is great for our undergrads who are aspiring to be teachers. It gives them an opportunity to have hands on experience with the kids and to make professional connections with teachers who are already in the classroom,” Caffey said.

She said the camp is an important learning tool for education students and a valuable asset for local grade school students who are striving readers. Caffey also said she will continue to do whatever she can to make the camp a success.