SUMMER EXPERIENCES CAN LEAD TO EXCEPTIONAL COLLEGE ESSAYS!
Meaningful summer activities often translate into excellent college essays. Whether it be a local villager your teen meets while volunteering on a service program in Latin America, an instructor who mentors them on campus in a pre-college academic setting, these types of formidable experiences help to create your student’s unique story.
When contemplating how to make the most of your high schooler’s summer, DO NOT focus on what you or they think “looks good” on an application. Instead, DO think about what interests and excites them most. This genuineness will make for a more enjoyable summer experience, and his or her authenticity will shine through in their essay. Are they curious about world languages and culture? How about channeling his or her inner creativity designing a metal sculpture…or a robotic prototype?
My own high school senior capitalized on the impact soccer has played in his life. Through teaching soccer to special needs kids as well as mentoring younger athletes in the sports camp he attended, Zach discovered the impact he had on children who needed it most. The inspiration and confidence he helped create within these young players along with the life lessons of leadership he learned from these experiences, are proving invaluable. These experiences showed him first hand how helping others and giving back makes one feel and simultaneously provided him with a stand out essay topic that demonstrated to admissions officers who he is as a person and as an applicant.
TIPS advisors can help with finding a summer experience that piques your student’s interest. The right summer experience will help them begin to create their own, unique story. And, before you know it, they may have just formulated that essay topic.
Does your child want something different this summer?
Many parents are still faced with planning for their child’s summer. If you are one of those parents, you need to know the start of summer camp season is about 100 days away. If your child is reluctant to consider an overnight summer program, here are some new and different ideas to tempt them.
While traditional camps never go out of style, for the students who want something different…
Your child who loves:
- STEM could go to camp and focus on building and launching rockets, study planets and learn about our night sky and mythology, or construct a huge structure in the ultimate maker lab.
- ARTS could learn to blow glass, make candles and jewelry, or be in a musical or drama performance.
- LITERATURE could go to a camp on a college campus in the U.S. or abroad and focus on all things related to philosophy, great books, and big ideas.
- MEDICINE and PUBLIC HEALTH could learn firsthand if this is a career they want to pursue with hands-on experience in clinics and community health centers.
- COOKING could go to Italy to focus on the Farm to Table movement and learn to make cheese and olive oil with other food lovers.
- SPORTS could go to a short-session camp on a boarding school campus to improve skills in a specific sport or learn a new one.
100 days will go quickly. Now is the time to plan for summer 2024!
Planning Summer for Tweens and Teens, Now’s the Time!
Planning summers for teens and tweens can be a challenge. It is hard to get them to focus on summer too far in advance. We have a wonderful tool to help! While we no longer offer in-person camp fairs we do offer Zoom Fairs for specific areas of summer experiences, and we are happy to share the recordings from those zooms with you. This winter we offered a month of zooms with each week devoted to a different area of teen interest: Teen Travel, Language Immersion, Adventure Trips for students, Community Service options, and Campus Study Programs. Each zoom includes 10-minute presentations given by 5 or 6 different summer programs in that category. You can review the recordings with your student or preview it before passing it on to them.
We are happy to discuss each option and help you differentiate among the programs. If none seems to suit your teen or tween’s interest or needs, let us know and we will curate a list of options that do!
Just reach out by phone or email. Let us make planning for summer 2024 easy for you! Call: 800-992-5188 or email admin@tipsontripsandcamps.com
Attention: First Time Campers!
Going to camp for the first time can be an exciting yet nerve-wracking experience for children. It’s natural for them to feel anxious about leaving home for an extended period of time. Here are some tips to help your child cope with anxiety and have a positive experience at camp:
- Talk to the camp director. Find out how the camp addresses homesickness. Have the camp director and your child talk so your child will know them and can ask questions.
- Focus on all the good things about camp: talk to your child in an excited way about what they will be doing at camp and what they will learn over their time at camp. Remember: camp is all about learning new things and meeting new people, all of which can build a child’s confidence.
- Make it clear to your child that you understand that being away from home can be difficult in the beginning, but also show that you are confident your child can make a successful transition. Kids often pick up anxiety from parents. If you are anxious, they probably will be, too!
- Encourage your child to bring something that will remind them of home: a note from mom and dad, a picture of the family, or some kind of transitional object to comfort them during anxious times.
- Keep the goodbyes short. Whether you are saying good-bye at the bus or taking your child to camp and walking away, don’t linger. Most campers start mingling with other kids within moments of your departing.
- Have your child read “Notes from the Camp Bunk: A Guide for First-time Campers from a Camper” by Eden Martin. Eden is still a camper herself and she wrote this book because she knew others were nervous about going away. This book is sure to make your child feel more at ease about any unsettling feelings about going away to camp. Eden answers all the questions a child has about what camp is like. This book can be found on Amazon: https://a.co/d/6ikuWTP. A portion of all sales of this book goes to “Project Morry,” an organization that empowers young people from under-resourced communities to reach their potential.
For more ways to prepare for a successful summer, check out our blog on “Tips for a Successful Camp Experience”: https://www.tipsontripsandcamps.com/blog/tips-for-a-successful-camp-experience/
The Subtle Yet Significant Benefits of Overnight Programs
Yes, overnight camp, a teen tour, or a wilderness adventure are geared for your child to have fun. But what about other benefits? Beyond just fun, summer programs are character building at their core. One such character-building benefit is “Perseverance.”
When our children leave home for the first time it can be jarring. We are asking them to navigate difficult situations on their own. While it may seem concerning, this is really a wonderful chance to develop problem solving skills. Seemingly overnight, our children are living communally, asked to get along with groups of new people, and navigating new surroundings. While this all sounds intimidating, it is exactly what they need in order to grow and explore who they are and who they strive to become.
Being away from the comforts of home forces our children to persevere through difficult situations. Our children will learn coping strategies and problem-solving skills through their summer experiences. While we try to teach our children these skills, sometimes it is through actual experiences that these skills are better developed.
After my daughter returned from overnight camp from her first summer away, I noticed an increase in her maturity. The little things that used to rile her up, didn’t anymore. Things seemed to roll off her back a little easier. When my son returned home after his first summer away, he gained a tremendous amount of independence. His clothes were put away (somewhat neatly) and he was better able to keep track of his belongings. These developments may be subtle, but they are also significant.
Although I might’ve hoped these developmental growths would have occurred with or without overnight camp, I absolutely saw a shift in their self-confidence due to their overnight camp experience.
Maybe it’s because they got to shine in their own activities, or they felt comfortable to be themselves and create new friendships. Either way, it is incredible to see the confidence boost after a summer experience.
When considering an overnight program for your child, consider the importance of perseverance, critical thinking skills, and problem-solving skills being developed at the same time they are experiencing fun activities, meeting new people, and exploring new surroundings.
What subtle benefits did you notice after your child returned from an overnight experience? We’d love to hear the positive anecdotes, so please leave a comment!
A HOW-TO…6 MONTH GUIDE FOR CREATING A SUMMER OF PURPOSE AND FUN!
2024 is here! Happy New Year! That means there’s less than 6 months to finalize your family’s summer plan.
Summer program options have changed in many ways to better fit into and enhance busy families’ lifestyles. TIPS Advisors have been hard at work meeting with camps and programs ahead of 2024. With first-hand knowledge on cutting edge programs, our team is primed in helping each individual with finding an experience that aligns with their interests. The timing is right to delve in and plan a summer of purpose and fun.
6 MONTH SUMMER PLANNING GUIDE:
JANUARY: Contact your TIPS Advisor (if you are already in contact with your Advisor, please skip to February). TIPS Advisors can be found on TIPS website. Share your summer goals and learn what’s new for 2024. Next, work with your Advisor to receive a list of outstanding summer options hand-selected specifically for you.
FEBRUARY: Explore and evaluate options. Your TIPS Advisor can help differentiate between camps and programs. *Enroll in program of your choice.
MARCH: Now that you’ve enrolled, build camp and program connectivity. Connect with camp or program directors for exciting ways of becoming part of your camp’s community. Winter camp newsletters may offer virtual games, pre-camp happenings and information about meet-ups in your home city.
APRIL: With Spring in the air and thoughts of summer camp beginning to surface, this is the perfect time to reach out to other camp families in your area. Connecting with another camp family can help provide a friendly face for you and your camper.
MAY: Label, label and more labels on all clothes and belongings bound for camp! This takes time, so May is a great month to plunge in.
JUNE: Stationery, stamps and stickers galore. Review with younger kids how to address envelopes for letters home.
……AND you’re off to camp to have a purposeful summer of fun and memories!
*NOTE: Several camps/programs may be full or nearing capacity in particular age groups and/or sessions. Please feel free to ask your TIPS Advisor on status per program.
Make Summer Magical, Send Your Kid to Camp!
At Tips on Trips and Camps, we search far and wide to screen and select exciting and interesting teen programs and summer camps that we are eager to share with our clients. Our mission has always been to find the right experience for each and every student. When the fit is right, it becomes a magical summer for that child and family, but also for the programs we represent. I just received this lovely note from one of the teen adventure trips.
“This year, we were thrilled to welcome some wonderful Tips on Trips and Camps referrals to our trips. This is a testament to your unwavering dedication and passion for connecting young individuals with the transformative power of the outdoors. Your expertise, guidance, and tireless efforts have been instrumental in shaping unforgettable experiences for our students. The impact you’ve made extends far beyond mere adventures; you’ve helped instill values of resilience, teamwork, and appreciation for nature in the hearts of those who’ve participated in our program.”
Our dedicated team is waiting to help plan amazing summers for all.
What’s New for Summer 2024?
Tips on Trips and Camps just completed our 3-day Annual Meeting in Baltimore. This is a time to review the past summer and hear about what’s new for next summer. It was a great content-packed, in-person meeting that included visits from teen summer programs.
Across the board, our sleep away camps and teen trips and experiences report that summer 2023 was wonderful. Attendance was higher than in previous years, and Covid accommodations took a back seat, though some camps incorporated protocols into everyday life at camp. Lots of hand washing stations are now common.
Here’s what’s new…
Many overnight camps now have a variety of session lengths to offer their families. A number of traditionally full-season camps now offer a shorter session for their first-year campers as an introduction to a summer overnight camp experience. Families with LGBTQ+ kids have wider choices of summer options than ever before with many camps happy to work to welcome kids of all types. And for those campers wanting to focus on sports there are numerous new options for short-session sports and dance camps.
Teen travel is back! Many destinations that were on pause over the last few years are open in 2024, including Bali, China, Japan, Peru and South Africa. Career exploration offers high school students hands-on experiences in emergency medicine, psychology, neuroscience, engineering, forensics, entrepreneurship, architecture, drone cinematography and more on college campuses around the US and abroad or as high school internships in a variety of countries.
The prospect of summer 2024 includes so many options! The Tips on Trips and Camps team is ready to help craft an amazing summer for your kids.
TIPS FOR PARENTS WHILE SUMMER CAMP IS IN SESSION
Try not to worry. Counselors and camp directors are trained to deal with the reactions of campers, particularly those first time campers.
Write to your child often. They will enjoy hearing their name called out when the mail arrives. Check on the camp policy regarding sending spending money and care packages. If permitted, these can be a real treat.
Don’t send so much detail about life at home that it could make your child feel they’re missing out on something. Avoid telling them how much you, their siblings or pets miss them.
Don’t overreact to first reports of homesickness. Almost all campers experience it at some point but it almost always passes in one to two days. By the time a heart wrenching letter arrives in the mail, chances are your son or daughter is a happy camper enjoying time with his or her new found friends.
If you receive an unhappy letter from your child or a letter that makes you uncomfortable about some aspect of camp, call the camp director to discuss it.
Do NOT offer to pick up your child if he or she is not having a good time. Avoid statements such as “If you don’t like camp, you can come home”. The goal should be to minimize feelings of homesickness so they don’t interfere with enjoyment of camp.
Enjoy your time while your child is at summer camp. Give yourself a treat. It may give you time alone with one of your other children, time you don’t usually have to devote solely to them. If you’re left at home with no children, enjoy time to yourself and with your spouse, significant other and/or friends. Make this time a special experience for you in addition to the one you’re giving your child. Happy camping!