GoldCap Education launches in Iowa City with Taylor Swift and real-world-themed camps

A new education experience has arrived in downtown Iowa City just in time for summer.

GoldCap Education officially launched in June with the mission of providing supplemental learning experiences to students during the summer school year.

GoldCap Education, founded by Jordan Immerfall, a program administrator and instructor at the University of Iowa College of Education, has spent 16 years in the education field. As a father of four, he noticed a gap in local summer camp offerings. He started working with other educators, eventually creating GoldCap.

"I've seen that with a lot of these opportunities for our kids in the community, they all fill up really quickly, and that was an indication that the Iowa City community values education and you can tell that by how quickly a lot of these camps fill up," Immerfall said. "We want to meet those needs, that interest and demand for high-quality education and in camps and provide something that fits the community's values and needs."

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Camps focus on basic curriculum, culture, and practical skills

With one camp already completed, the eight remaining camps focus on STEM, cultural topics, practical skills like financial literacy or conversational competency, and hand-selected student issues.

GoldCap tries to tailor its curriculum toward the students, unpacking their interests and allowing them to find their passion. The camps are a fusion of hobbies and education.

"There is a huge focus on content and testing in schools; those things are important, but we want to recognize that students have interest in things that they love," Immerfall said. "We recognize that to be really invested and learn something, it's helpful if you are interested in it or drawn to it.

We try to find the intersection of content that students love and are interested in and weave that to make a valuable and meaningful learning experience for them."

The offerings are rather unique. One July camp explores geography topics with facts on landmarks, local cuisine, culture, and language in tune with Taylor Swift's "The Eras Tour" as it continues through Europe.

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Learning beyond the classroom

GoldCap's summer camps will operate out of the "Merge in the Classroom of the Future" space in downtown Iowa City. The organization will leverage the proximity of local businesses to enhance the learning experience. The Yotopia Leadership Lab allows students to spend the day learning entrepreneurial skills by teaming up with Yotopia. The camp examines how math can be used outside the classroom and how to problem-solve in real-life scenarios while introducing the necessary social skills to become successful.

"We're focusing on the ways to learn, and sometimes that is not content-related," Immerfall said. "It is more about critical thinking and learning how to ask questions to overcome a challenge and how to work together. Those are real-life skills that students can apply in real-life skills that students can apply in any setting."

GoldCap also hopes to provide camps during school breaks, in the winter and spring, and on non-school days. They plan to host occasional weekday evening or weekend activities as well.

The goal is to help children stay active and learning.

"When there is a non-school day during the week, parents struggle to find things to do with their children," Immerfall said. "[GoldCap] will hold camps on every no-school day throughout the year, and the full menu will be available in the summer."

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Ensuring quality educational experiences

Several Licensed and certified educators teach GoldCap's programming. They are committed to maintaining a six-to-one student-staff ratio, which includes one lead teacher and an additional associate. The average class size is capped at 12 students.

Teachers at GoldCap either have experience in K-12 classrooms or higher education, while a few are Iowa City Community School District faculty members.

Though many of the current camps are geared toward students in the fourth through eighth grades, GoldCap intends to expand its scope by providing summer camps that appeal to older students as well.

"We want the programming to reflect the values of diversity, community, and education that they value in Iowa City," Immerfall said. "When you have teachers that can teach content that they love and are invested in, and then you have students that love to learn and want to be there, and you put them together, that's when you can really create something special."

GoldCap's camps range in length from whole-day experiences to week-long adventures. Registration fees pay educators, provide space at Merge, and cover insurance and marketing costs.

Immerfall hopes that GoldCap can offer scholarship opportunities for students in the future.

For more information about GoldCap Education and their programs, visit their Instagram or website.

Jessica Rish is an entertainment, dining and business reporter for the Iowa City Press-Citizen. She can be reached at JRish@press-citizen.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @rishjessica_

This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: GoldCap brings unique summer educational programming to Iowa City