Summer camp

Summer camp is a supervised program for children and/or teenagers conducted (usually) during the summer months in some countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer camp are known as campers.

The traditional view of a 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. In fact, the American Camp Association reports that in 2006, 75 percent of camps added new programs. This is largely to counter a trend in decreasing enrollment in summer camps, brought about by smaller family sizes, the growth in supplemental educational programs and the popularity of electronic media, all of which have made keeping children inside and occupied much easier than in previous generations.

There are also religiously-affiliated summer camps, such as those run by Evangelical Christian groups.

The primary purpose of many camps is educational or cultural development. A summer camp environment may allow children to take healthy risks in a safe and nurturing environment.

Organization

In most camps, the adult supervisors are called counselors. In many camps, counselors are assigned to smaller groups of campers, called "bunks", "huts", "cabins", or "units", who participate in activities as a group. Counselors often share living accommodations with their bunk or other counselors. Most counselors are in their late teens or early twenties, as high school or college students on their summer break are frequently recruited.

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.

Summer camp around the world

USA

The American Camp Association (ACA) reports that 10 million children attend camp annually, and there are approximately 12,000 camps nationwide.

Camps include both religious, for-profit, nonprofit, and government camps. In the US, youth organizations, like the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H, the YMCA, Camp Fire USA, and several religiously-affiliated groups are known for having many camps and integrating them with their own local organizations.

Canada

In Canada, summer camps are very popular. Similar to US camps about 70% of Canadian camps tend to be affiliated with organizations, the rest of Canadian camps would be private.

Summer camp fairs are held throughout the United States and Canada, usually during the winter months. Parents and children can meet camp directors and collect information about summer camps. Admission to these fairs is typically free.

Russia

In the USSR, the first summer camps were created shortly after its establishment and were called Young Pioneer camps during the Soviet Union's existence. Their number grew throughout the history of the Soviet Union and they numbered more than forty thousand in 1973, with 9,300,000 children attending them during their vacation every year. After the breakup of the USSR, the number of Young Pioneer camps greatly declined. However, many of the major camps still exist. There are 2,726 Residential camps (with 2,000,000 children), and more 40,000 Day camps (3,500,0000 children) in Russia (2006). Most of them was united by All-Russian Camp Association "Deti Plus" (Children Plus) in 1994. St.Petersburg was the capital of International Congress of International Camping Fellowship in 1997.

France

In France they are called colonie de vacances or more recently centre de vacances. According to the French administration, more than 25% of French children attend this kind of "collective holiday" each year.

China

Most of the summer camps are sponsored by the educational bureau. However, nowadays, there are more privately-held camp programs. The traditional camps are only open to the selected students within individual school district. In the recent years, programs have started that are open to kids from different background and different regions. There are also programs tailored for international students who are interested in learning Chinese and culture.

Finland

Many Finnish non-governmental organizations arrange summer camps for children in a wide variety of age brackets. Major organizers of summer camps are the scouts, sport teams and the orthodox and evangelic-Lutheran churches. The concept of summer camps arose with the rapid post-WWII urbanization and industrialization Finland experienced. The reason behind this was that Finnish pedagogues of that period, influenced by the values of the largely agrarian pre-WWII society, were convinced that an urban lifestyle was harmful for the development of children. The idea behind summer camps was to ensure that children had experiences of the countryside, experiences that would aid in development into a decent citizen.

One Finnish tradition also arose soon after WWII, was confirmation camps. Confirmations camps, religious camps for 13-16 years old youths organized by the local churches, aimed to combine the traditional concept of confirmation school and the newer concept of summer camps in order to battle secularization of the society. The concept was successful enough to such an extent that today, 90% of all youths participate in confirmation camps. The camps' require their participants to learn certain religious texts, such as the catechism, and the Lord's prayer.

There are a number of non-religious alternatives for confirmation camps, such as the Prometheus Camps, which aim to generate a positive intellectual and social atmosphere for the participants of the camp without religious tuition.

Sweden

The church of Sweden provides confirmation camps, usually combined with outdoor life.

United Kingdom

Summer camps are not a regular part of childhood in the United Kingdom, as they are in the United States. The term "summer camp" itself is not considered to be British English (the industry body is called the British Activity Holiday Association). Camps in the UK are also generally less specialised that within the United States and most offer a fairly broad Multi-Activity programme of adventure activities alongside some fun social elements. This is partly due to the fact that summer camps in the UK grew as an off-shoot of the activity holiday industry and therefore was very influenced by their adventure-only outdoor programme. THe UK has for the past few decades had a number of organisations that have established themselves more along the traditional American Camp model with a very wide range of holiday options as well as themed camps and major event days. Noticeably in recent years they have stopped marketing themselves as "American-style" possibly because the US is a little out of fashion currently or because the English summer camps are better established with greater awareness from parents as to what exactly they offer young people. Some religious groups, such as the Christadelphians, also run well publicised and attended camps throughout the country.

Educational camps

In the United States there are numerous models of camp with an educational focus that cater to students with differing ages and academic interest.

College credit courses

Some camps 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 introduction to students to entice them to attend the college as a full time student based upon a memorable summer experience. One example is Camp CAEN, a computer camp offered by the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. It is focused on educating high school aged students on subjects related to computer science and computer engineering, as well as exposing them to elements of college life.

Trey Soule, center, presses the ignition switch launching his model rocket into the air during Starbase Kelly at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, Aug. 10, 2007. Starbase Kelly, sponsored by the 433red Airlift Wing of the U.S. Air Force, is a five-day camp focused on providing fourth, fifth and sixth-graders with education on math, science and technology during the summer.

Non-college credit courses

Some camps, 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.

Academic adventure camps

The provide high school students with the opportunity to study an academic topics on a summer adventure travel program, typically in the wilderness or a foreign country. Many include community service as a component of the course. Others also offer college credit with the successful completion of the program.

SAT Preparation courses

Various camp programs offer preparation for the Scholastic Aptitude Test as part of 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 test preparation companies like The Princeton Review or Kaplan who provide the teachers and resources.

Enrichment courses

These programs offer a wide range of classes that may have little or no scholastic overlap, but are taught with the purpose of broadening the student's conception and interest in many otherwise unknown areas of study. Students typically explore subjects like photography, community service, drama, magic, scuba diving, video production, comic book design, crime scene forensics, cooking, yoga, and similar areas.

Science & nature

These hands-on learning programs revolve around science and nature themes. These programs take a unique approach to learning in a summer camp program.

Tech camps

Tech camps focus on technology education. These summer camps develop 21^st century skills in areas such as game design, 3D game creation, web design, graphic design, robot building, and programming languages. These summer camps are typically held on college campuses.

Art and performing art camps

Other camps have become summer training grounds for a variety of arts. Many offer elective classes in a range of artistic and performing activities including visual art, music, theatre, dance, circus arts, rock and roll, magic and other specialties. Some of these programs have a narrow focus in one particular area, while others offer a wide rage of programs. Due to the popularity of these activities, many traditional camps have added some elements of the visual and performing arts into their programs as well.

Some camps offer very high level instruction and performance opportunities; this is such that campers with previous experience and skill may be able to perform a solo in front of a symphony orchestra or create an artistic piece on their own. Most art and performing art summer camps also cater to beginners, offering children the opportunity to try a new art or learn a new skill.

Performing art camps often run 3 or 4 week sessions that culminate in some sort of performance that parents and families attend.

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.

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.

In the United States 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. Some of these camps have been operating for around 100 years. 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 focus on helping each camper acquire skills in a 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 session even though the curriculum repeats each week. Some single-sport camps offer longer sessions. 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.

The best sports camps do much more than just improve a camper's soccer, tennis, lacrosse, or wrestling skills - they help each child become a more skillful athlete, a more gracious competitor, a more committed team player, and a more confident person.

Weight loss camps

Main article: fat camp

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

Camp Activities

Summer Camps typically have a wide range of activities and sports for campers to participate in. Some camps have set up a service where campers chose their daily activities. And while several camps have more modern and advanced activities, some camps tend to stick with the old-fashioned variety of sports and activities. These activities include a nightly campfire, camp songs and or handclapping patterns, athletic sports, and other old fashioned activities. Summer camps have several different groups of activities such as, Athletics, Water Sports, Adventure, hiking, Theater, Gymnastics, Arts, and Equestrian. Some camps are set on spending most of their time on one of the activity groups. For example, some camp may be just a theater camp, or an Athletic camp. This wide range of activities give campers a large selection of Summer camps to choose from.

See also

• Camping (recreational activity)
• Outdoor education
• List of summer camps

External links

Associations

• The 47th Legion Athletic Camp is a multi-sport international athletic camp sitauted at the International Peace Garden on the Manitoba/North Dakota border.
• Camp XL Christian Holidays for teens of all faiths and backgrounds
• The American Camp Association is an organization of camping professionals that provides accreditation standards for camps, and serves as a resource for camping research and professional development.
• The Canadian Camping Association is an association of camps across Canada. Accreditation of camps in Canada happens at the provincial level.
• The Christian Camp and Conference Association connects Christian camping professionals and associations around the world.
• The Ontario Camping Association accredits camps in Ontario, Canada
• The Quebec Camping Association accredits camps in Quebec, Canada
• The International Camping Fellowship connects camping professionals and associations around the world.
• The Mennonite Camping Association Addresses concerns between mennonite camps and the mennonite church.
• Gaines Christian Youth Retreat/Camp Centre in Worcester, UK

Camp Resources

• [1]Insidecamps.com provides a resource for campers and their parents to research potential camps and provide feedback and ratings on past experiences.

Publications

• InSite Magazine for professionals in the Christian camp industry
• CampSight Magazine for anyone interested in Christian camp ministry
• "The Camp Search": Article on how parents can help their kids have a meaningful camp experience
• Summer Camp Advice Addresses concerns of parents in looking for the correct summer camp