Summer camp

Campers and staff enjoying Rudd Pond

Summer camp is a supervised program for children and teenagers conducted during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend camp ("campers") participate in a variety of activities, many of which are unique to this non-school period.

The term summer camp derives from the tradition of holding these programs at campsites. However, the traditional image of summer camp as a woodsy place with hiking, canoeing, and campfires is evolving, with greater acceptance of newer summer camps that offer a wide variety of specialized activities. For example, there are camps for the performing arts, rock music, magic, computers, children with special needs, and weight loss. There are also religious summer camps, such as those run by Jewish organizations and by Evangelical Christian groups.

History

campers and staff of the Becket Chimney Corners YMCA in front of their tent, 1922

Summer camp is the continuation of a tradition since the mid-1800s. Frederick W. Gunn founded the first camp in 1861. Gunn and his wife Abigail operated a home school for boys in Washington, Connecticut, and took the school on a two-week hiking trip. The Gunns operated the Gunnery Camp for twelve more years. Camp Dudley was founded in 1885 and is currently the oldest continually running boys camp in America.

Organization

In most camps, the adult supervisors are called counselors. Counselors are responsible for guiding the campers during activities and ensuring the safety of the campers. In many camps, counselors are assigned to smaller groups of campers, called "bunks," "huts," or "cabins," who participate in activities as a group. Counselors often share living accommodations with their bunk. Most counselors are in their late teens or early twenties, as it is an ideal job for high school or college students on summer break. Although counselor jobs don't usually pay well (often minimum wage), counselors receive free room and board. Many take the job primarily for its enjoyable experience.

Summer camp is also known as "sleepaway camp" (American usage) when campers spend their nights at camp. At some camps, all campers stay overnight, and at some camps, so called day camps, the campers go home each night. Some other camps allow both day and overnight campers. Summer camp is often the first time that children spend an extended period of time away from home. Missing home is a frequent problem, but with a caring counselor most campers adjust fairly quickly. Many homesick campers find solace in Care Packages sent from their families to comfort them.

Types of Camps

Educational camps

There are numerous models of camp with an educational focus that cater to students with differing ages and academic interest.

College credit courses are very popular camps that typically offer students the opportunity to explore a pre-college experience. Typically, students entering grades 10 through 12 stay in the college dormitories and attend summer classes run by college faculty. At the successful completion of a summer program, course credits are awarded, which in turn are accepted by most tertiary institutions. Typically, colleges in the United States offer these programs as it serves as an excellent advertisement and introduction to students to entice them to attend the college as a full time student based upon a memorable summer experience.

Non-college credit courses, such as CTY, are focused primarily on education or on educational-related activities, such as debate, history, or journalism. These camps are often run by colleges or universities, and are usually for children in junior or senior high school. Educational summer camps are different than summer schools as the summer camps often are not offered for school credit, and often have a significant focus on non-academic activities. Students for these programs are often invited or recruited.

SAT Preparation courses, are also widely popular and offered in various camp programs as a mixture of academic learning with summer fun. Often the SAT preparation is offered as a full morning immersion while the afternoons and evenings are geared towards homework and recreational activities. These camp programs often outsource their SAT component from institutions like Princeton Review SAT Prep or Kaplan SAT Prep who provide the teachers and resources.

Enrichment courses are programs that offer a wide range of classes that may have little or no scholastic overlap; however, are taught with the purpose of broadeding the student's conception and interest in many otherwise unknown areas of study. Students could typically explore subjects like Photography, Community Service, Drama, Magic, Scuba Diving, Video Production, Comic Book Design, Crime Scene Forensics, Cooking, Yoga et cetera.

Art camps

Other camps have become summer training grounds for a variety of arts. Famous examples are Litchfield Jazz Camp, Buck's Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp (founded 1942), Stanford Jazz Workshop, Camp Med-O-Lark and Stagedoor Manor.

Jewish Camps

Jewish summer camps enjoy a long history in the United States.. Many of them date to the decades surrounding World War II, as American Jewish community leaders attempted to create a prototypically American setting in which Jewish youth could be immersed in, and learn about, Jewish activities, celebrations, and the Hebrew language.

Jewish educators and community leaders from across the spectrum began building and promoting Jewish summer camping during this era, most prominently the Conservative movement's Ramah camps and various camps begun under the auspices of the Reform movement. Other Jewish groups, such as Bnei Akiva and Young Israel soon did the same.

Currently, the United States and Canada are home to a large number of Jewish summer camps. Jewish summer camps offer many of the same activities as regular summer camps (arts and crafts, ropes course, outdoor sports, singing, dancing, etc.), but also typically include Jewish educational components such as Shabbat, Havdallah, Israel education, and celebration of Jewish holidays.

Travel camps

Many camps also bring children of all ages around the world. Some camps are often called 'Adventure Camps' - often having a very specific theme. Many of these programs emphasize skill development and personal growth through the adventures offered. These themes can include scuba diving, rock climbing, sailing, or amusement parks.

Sports camps

Summer camps can be found that offer intensive instruction in almost any sport imaginable, or that offer quality instruction and competition in a wide range of sports. Camps are split into groups of day camps and overnight camps.

Overnight sports camps fall into two groups. The more traditional of these offer boys and girls the chance to learn and play many sports. Sessions are typically 3 to 8 weeks long, and some camps have multiple sessions. While many strong athletes attend these camps, a traditional sports camp program also serves the needs of less proficient athletes by having all campers compete on teams picked by ability - so all kids get a chance to contribute to their team's success in their daily competitions. These camps generally focus, through the medium of team sports, on the development of the whole child - not just how they are as an athlete but also how they are as a person, a bunkmate, a teammate, and a friend. Many of these camps include a variety of non-sports programs as well for a more diverse experience.

Many sports camps are of the second type, which focuses almost exclusively on one particular sport. These camps generally do a good job (some a great job) of helping each camper acquire skills in that sport that help them gain confidence and improve their chances of making the team when they return to school. Indeed, some campers are helped to be nationally competitive by way of this kind of intensive summer training. These camps generally run week-long sessions, and some campers may attend more than one even though the curriculum repeats each week. Some single-sport camps offer longer sessions (for example, J Robinson Intensive Camps have a wrestling intensive program that last up to 28 days). Many of the instructors at these camps are coaches of local teams - and thus many athletes get valuable extra time with the coach they play for during the school year (or the coach they hope to play for during the upcoming school year).

Both multi-sport and single-sport camps tend to be run by experienced teachers and coaches (who typically have summers off from their school responsibilities). Cabin staff, instructors, and counselors are typically college athletes. The best sports camps succeed at challenging aspiring athletes both mentally and physically. This is possible in part because many of the counselors attended as campers, and thus there is a vibrant "camp culture" that welcomes new campers into an extended camp family and establishes the high standards that incoming campers are encouraged to achieve.

Weight loss camps

Weight loss camps are for children and teens to learn about losing weight and keep it off while having a summer camp experience.

Purpose

Aside from the various theme purposes of summer camps, the underlying principle in all is the chance for children to socialize in a structured environment during months off from school. This allows parents to not worry that their children are spending their summers sitting around idly, but are involved in some at least moderately developmental activity. Camps also offer parents a temporary reprieve from the often difficult task of child rearing. Camps also give children the opportunity to experience activities they would not get to otherwise. Children from urban areas can have an opportunity to enjoy the outdoors for a spell, which is not available in their everyday life.

Camper Insurance

Camp tuition can be expensive. Similar to travel insurance, there are now insurance policies for families sending their children to camp to cover last minute cancellations, homesickness, medical and emergency evacuations. Often times a family will give a deposit to enroll their child into camp months before camp will actually start. In the unfortunate event that something happens to the child or the family which will affect the ability of the child to attend camp, camp cancellation insurance can protect that investment. Summer camps have their own policies on cancellations: some camps will refund the deposit but most will not.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Ball, Armand. Basic Camp Management: An Introduction to Camp Administration. American Camp Association, 2004. ISBN 0876031882
• Coutellier, Connie. Camp Is for the Camper: A Counselor's Guide to Youth Development. American Camping Association, 2000. ISBN 0876031688
• Scofield, Rich. Summer Program Tips, Strategies and Activities. School Age 101 (2001). ISBN 0917505158
• Thurber, Christopher. The Summer Camp Handbook : Everything You Need to Find, Choose and Get Ready for Overnight Camp — and Skip the Homesickness. Perspective Publishing, 2000. ISBN 1930085001

External links

• The American Camp Association accredits camps which adhere to a set of national standards.
• The Canadian Camping Association is an association of camps across Canada. Accreditation of camps in Canada happens at the provincial level.
• American Camp Association - Find a Camp The American Camp Association's search for accredited camps in the US.
• MySummerCamps.com The largest Summer Camps & Summer Programs directory.
• CampPage A directory of summer camps in the United States and Canada.
• CampChannel.com specialized search engine for summer camps and camp jobs
• CampResource.com Online Summer Camp Directory Worldwide directory of overnight, day and travel summer camps and camp jobs for kids and teens.
• Talk Camp is a website for camp staff to talk about camp.
• Camp Games, Camp Songs, and Other Activities (UltimateCampResource.com).

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