POULSBO — Taking a break from the typical summer pastimes, local kids can get their technological kicks this summer at the Olympic College-Poulsbo campus.

As OC-Poulsbo enters the third year of its summertime Edventure program, its focus has centered heavily around technology and digital arts. And while courses will be managed inside a classroom setting, the subject matter is far more exciting than anything one would likely find in a traditional textbook.

“We knew that this year we would sort of shift to more individualized technology topics and that works for our niche as a campus,” said OC-Poulsbo director Kelly Woodward, adding that the college was also conscious of what other summer programs were being offered throughout the North End. “We want to be additive and enriching, and doing some things that maybe have a different focus but are really unique to our own facilities and our own faculty.”

The hi-tech OC-Poulsbo campus, equipped with gadgets from teacher workstation projectors to campus-wide wireless Internet, will host four different Edventure sessions beginning July 24 — web design, digital photography and graphics, flash animation and LEGO robotics. Each course is designed for ages 10-16, except for the LEGO Robotics class which is for 8-12, according to the program brochure.

Classes are filling up fast, however, OC is hoping to keep waiting lists in the event that another session would be feasible, Woodward said.

For more information, to register or to attain a brochure visit OC online at www.olympic.edu or call (360) 394-2725.

The two chief instructors for this year’s Edventure program — Eric Pfefferkorn of Florida and North Kitsap School District’s Theresa Ahrens — each hails from the K-12 system where they’ve routinely worked with kids in or near the age group. They will be joined by a trained instructional aid and a volunteer classroom helper, Woodward noted.

“What’s great about these programs is that they offer something for everyone,” said Edventure program coordinator Jackie Van Warreby, who has been involved with the summertime study since its inception. “I think these programs give us an edge because they are not really offered anywhere else in the community. “Parents are sometimes blown away by how savvy (their kids) are and how much interest is there.”

OC-Poulsbo selects its Edventure course offerings through data collected from students and parents at the end of the previous year’s program. Then organizers take the feedback to the drawing board to develop a schedule, Woodward said.

“This year for some reason the technology ones have taken off,” she said. “This gives us an opportunity to take this great facility where some of the classrooms would’ve been empty and have a way to let the community make good use of it.”

During the duration of the sessions, kids will be working on course-specific, personally driven culminating projects. At the end of the camp, OC-Poulsbo will host a celebratory day where the computer lab will turn into somewhat of an art gallery in which the students will show off their projects to friends and families alike.

“The fact that they have some autonomy of what they do, gives students a lot of room for creativity and making everything personal,” Van Warreby said. “This is a great way for (kids) to expand on what they might have had a little of experience with in school.”