Academic Summer Camps

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I'm doing some digging to find interesting academic summer camp options for high school and middle school students.

 

I'll add to the list as I find more. I'd love to see what other people know about and especially any commentary on them.

 

Society of American Military Engineers http://samecamps.org/ (high schoolers after freshman year)

US Army Camp June 10-16 2012 (tent) Vicksburg, Miss Application Deadline 23 March 2012

US Air Force Academy Camp July 6-12 2012 Colorado Springs, CO Application Deadline 27 April 2012

US Navy Seabees Camp July 22-28 2012 Port Hueneme, CA Application Deadline 11 May 2012

US Marine Corps Camp June 17-23, 2012 Camp LeJune, NC Application Deadline 13 April 2012

(The above deadlines are the dates by which SAME posts must submit nominations. Check with local SAME post for local deadlines. More details under the Am I Eligible and Application Process tabs.)

 

United States Air Force Academy Summer Seminar (rising seniors only) http://www.academyadmissions.com/?m=2011AFA&pl=Google&med=search#

Rolling admissions beginning 1 December 2011

 

Naval Academy Summer Seminar (NASS) (rising seniors only) http://www.usna.edu/admissions/nass.htm

Rolling admissions beginning 1 February 2011.

 

West Point (United States Military Academy) Summer Leaders Seminar (SLS) (rising seniors only) http://admissions.usma.edu/summer_program.html

Application window opens mid-January 2012

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

those look to me to be military camps more than academic camps... :confused:

[Sebastian (a lady)]

those look to me to be military camps more than academic camps... :confused:

 

I started with the programs I'm most familiar with, those offered by US service academies. The purpose of those summer seminars is to give students insight into the offerings and demands associated with attending one of those schools. There is a pretty similar weight given to the academic majors and the military demands. For students who are interested in getting a degree and a commission through a service academy, they are a pretty big deal.

 

The SAME camps are new to me. But they piqued my curiosity.

 

I'm also digging into options at nearby civilian universities or other civilian schools that I'm curious about. However, I'm a little turned off by the idea of a 4-6 week "pre-college program" that runs $4,000-6000 that may or may not offer college credit. Those seem more like money trees for the college than a particularly good deal for the student. (And for that cost, I'll take my kid to Europe for a month.)

 

Do you know of other academic programs?

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

The only ones I've really looked into are the ID Tech camps.

http://www.internaldrive.com/

But they may fall into your 'pre-college program' that may or may not offer credits. I have no first hand experience with them.

 

However, I'm a little turned off by the idea of a 4-6 week "pre-college program" that runs $4,000-6000 that may or may not offer college credit. Those seem more like money trees for the college than a particularly good deal for the student. (And for that cost, I'll take my kid to Europe for a month.)

 

Do you know of other academic programs?

Not quote sure what exactly you mean by "academic", but the Concordia Language Villages seem to be an interesting option. Haven't sent kids there (yet), but would love to hear from folks who have.

[TechWife]

I just searched for engineering summer camps & got a lot of hits. I imagine you could do the same if you searched for writing camps, literature camps, science camps, etc.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Not quote sure what exactly you mean by "academic", but the Concordia Language Villages seem to be an interesting option. Haven't sent kids there (yet), but would love to hear from folks who have.

 

By academic, I mostly meant not oriented around sports or camping type activities.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Do you have a link for the Hillsdale camps? I was actually looking for those and not finding them.

[memphispeg]

The private schools and universities in our area offer some techie camps at a reasonable price. Middlebury college has some summer language camps and there's an intensive language camp somewhere in the woods of Minn. For middle schoolers, I'd make sure the camps were fun and creative, not just book learning. Science could also be environmental so, nature/outdoor camps are a very good option, especially for city kids. E. G. - Diving/scuba programs have a strong scientific/ecology component these days. Hands-on in the summer has always been my motto. And, dare I say "fun"!!!!

[J-rap]

My kids have never been to these, but I've heard wonderful things about them. It is an organization called "Concordia Language Villages," and they offer summer camps based on learning a foreign language. For example, if you take the Spanish camp, you learn/speak in Spanish, the money is Spanish money, etc. This is a link to their website:

 

http://www.concordialanguagevillages.org/newsite/

 

They have 15 different "language villages," and it's for kids all ages through high school. I think they even have family camps.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

NOAA Summer Camps (Washington State, for 7th and 8th graders)

 

NOAA Science Camp Junior Leadership program (9th and 10th graders)

 

NOAA Weather Camp (four locations, 3 are residential camps, 1 is commuter. This is for rising high school juniors and seniors.)

 

NOAA middle school and high school camps on Chesapeake Bay

[SkateLeft]

My next door neighbors have been really involved with Concordia Language Villages (affiliated with Concordia College in Moorhead, MN) for years. The mom is a school teacher who works in the Norwegian village every summer, and her children attended regularly until they went off to college. I'd like to send my younger daughter to their Italian village, but the dates never quite seem to fit with our availability!

 

Last summer, my oldest daughter spent a week in the Summer Latin Immersion Program at Christendom College, and had a phenomenal time. Highly recommended, especially for Catholic kids.

[HistoryMom]

Not quote sure what exactly you mean by "academic", but the Concordia Language Villages seem to be an interesting option. Haven't sent kids there (yet), but would love to hear from folks who have.

 

...and there's an intensive language camp somewhere in the woods of Minn.

 

My kids have never been to these, but I've heard wonderful things about them. It is an organization called "Concordia Language Villages," and they offer summer camps based on learning a foreign language. For example, if you take the Spanish camp, you learn/speak in Spanish, the money is Spanish money, etc. This is a link to their website:

 

http://www.concordialanguagevillages.org/newsite/

 

They have 15 different "language villages," and it's for kids all ages through high school. I think they even have family camps.

 

My next door neighbors have been really involved with Concordia Language Villages (affiliated with Concordia College in Moorhead, MN) for years. The mom is a school teacher who works in the Norwegian village every summer, and her children attended regularly until they went off to college. I'd like to send my younger daughter to their Italian village, but the dates never quite seem to fit with our availability!

 

My sister, cousins, and I all went to the Concordia camps for years. We did the two-week camps when we were young and then the month-long, high-school credit camps once we were in high school. We all attended the Norwegian camp and I also attended German. I loved it and learned a tremendous amount. You still do the swimming, canoeing, etc., but also have a couple of language classes per day, along with immersion activities and homework. I'd send my kids in a heartbeat if I had the money.

[memphispeg]

Re: Concordia. My dd's best friend went for 2 summers and told me that when she gets old enough to be a counselor, she will go there and meet her husband!!! She loved it, she wished she had gone starting in middle school. She did the Spanish programs.

[Kathy in Richmond]

Math camps that my kids attended and absolutely loved:

 

MathPath - middle school ages. Located on a different college campus each summer. My son and daughter enjoyed this so much that they each went back as a counselor later on.

 

Canada/USA Mathcamp - our all-time favorite. Lots of math, but also lots of time for fun, exploring the surrounding area, outside recreation such as hiking, & field trips. Rotates among different college campuses; it also gave my kids a good feel for college life while still in high school.

 

Princeton Summer Workshop in Math - for rising 12th grade women. Dependent on funding (didn't run last summer), but worth bookmarking if you have a daughter who thinks she might want to be a math major. The girls attend two classes daily and work on small group research projects. All-expenses are completely paid for attendees.

 

Other math camps with outstanding reputations: (I know we have some WTM families with experience at some of these)

 

HCSSIM - at Hampshire College in MA

Awesome Math - at Cornell or UC Santa Cruz

Ross - at Ohio State (number theory)

Promys - at Boston U (number theory)

SUMaC - at Stanford

Math Zoom - usually has two locations (one on each coast)

 

Some awesome science summer programs:

 

SSP - in NM and CA - astronomy

HSHSP - at Michigan State - STEM research project based. I almost had my daughter convinced to go to this a couple of years ago. She got in, but they didn't really have an appropriate project & mentor for her, so she opted to return to Mathcamp instead.

[Laura in CA]

 

Other math camps with outstanding reputations: (I know we have some WTM families with experience at some of these)

 

...

Math Zoom - usually has two locations (one on each coast)

 

My son attended Math Zoom the past two summers (two weeks last summer and three weeks this summer) and LOVED it.

 

 

Some awesome science summer programs:

 

SSP - in NM and CA - astronomy

 

I attended SSP back in high school (when it was smaller, and a lot fewer girls!) and it literally changed my life. I've gotten involved with it again after attending the 50th anniversary reunion (it was started just after Sputnik!), and the folks running it are still absolutely first-rate. I'm hoping to convince at least one of my kids to apply! :001_smile: The campers still take celestial observations every few nights and calculate the orbit of an asteroid, but computer programming is now a significant part of the program (we just had a PDP-11, IIRC!). It's a very intense, academic 6 weeks, but they don't give grades or credit, in order to encourage collaboration and a scientific "community." There are also a lot of fun activities, sports, beach trips, field trips, movies, and guest speakers (Richard Feynman spoke at SSP for the last time the summer *before* I attended, unfortunately). I'll try to stop now :D ... but feel free to PM me if you'd like more info!

 

The only ones I've really looked into are the ID Tech camps.

http://www.internaldrive.com/

But they may fall into your 'pre-college program' that may or may not offer credits. I have no first hand experience with them.

 

My son attended a one-week ID Tech camp at Stanford as his first camp experience, three summers ago, and loved it. The following summer they had changed their computer-programming offerings and nothing appealed to him (he'd been all set to do their two-week C++ camp, I think, but it was no longer offered), so he switched to pure-math camps.

 

I'm not sure what my son will do in future summers ... those Hillsdale Europe trips look awesome, so we've been looking into those.

 

~Laura

[lauracolumbus]

My next door neighbors have been really involved with Concordia Language Villages (affiliated with Concordia College in Moorhead, MN) for years. The mom is a school teacher who works in the Norwegian village every summer, and her children attended regularly until they went off to college. I'd like to send my younger daughter to their Italian village, but the dates never quite seem to fit with our availability!

 

Last summer, my oldest daughter spent a week in the Summer Latin Immersion Program at Christendom College, and had a phenomenal time. Highly recommended, especially for Catholic kids.

 

Thanks for sharing this. It looks perfect for my ds--and my sister lives in Alexandria.

 

I have a good friend whose dd went to the Ross Camp at Ohio State. She's now on scholarship at Harvey Mudd and was able to keep taking college level math classes at OSU, even as a freshman (which they rarely let happen).

 

Laura