News

Today, children might share the same traditional, great-outdoors camp experience that their parents enjoyed. Many kids, however, pursue specialty "camps" -- some of which barely fit the classic definition of camp -- that have become popular in this generation. This is the time of year when parents and their children peruse the choices available and pick a camp, either day camps or traditional sleepaway camps.

You name it, and there just might be a camp for it: space camp, spy camp, spa camp, cooking camp, basketball camp, acting camp, video production camp, music camp, and pre-college camps that focus on a specific major. Some camps take place in the traditional woods setting, while others take place in college dormitories and other non-wilderness environments.

"The simple definition for sleepaway camp is any program that is residential, where children will stay for a period of time, involved in some kind of recreational activity," says Jeffrey Solomon, executive director of the National Camp Association in New York.

Fans of s'mores and campfires, though, need not worry about traditional camp going extinct. Of the almost 10,000 children's summer camps in the United States -- of which about 60 percent are sleepaway camps -- about 75 percent are traditional, according to National Camp Association figures. About 6.5 million children are expected to attend camp this summer.

Michael Humes of Camp Regis-Applejack -- a 60-year-old camp in New York's Adirondack Mountains that attracts campers from around the world -- says that while newer, trendier specialty camps have something to offer, nothing can take the place of the kind of wilderness camp that adults remember.

"The root of the words 'camping' and 'camping out' means living in the woods ... and doing many activities based around the woods and the lake," says Humes, director of Camp Regis-Applejack.

"Having a program which is set up at a college or boarding school ... has really very little to do with what the true meaning of camp is," Humes says. "The others are like a clinic ... and do not come close to the benefits a traditional overnight camp is able to bring. Group living and learning experience is perhaps the greatest experience from traditional camp."

Terry Wiles, director of Camp T. Frank Soles in Somerset County, agrees: There's nothing like a traditional sleepaway camp, with bunk beds and trees, for children.

"It gets them into a situation where they can really expand their limits and horizons," says Wiles, whose camp is in Middlecreek, in the Laurel Mountains.

"There's still kind of the glamour and mystique of summer camp, where you're canoeing across a lake -- and the campfire at night, and that one-on-one time with a counselor where you're sitting under a tree, talking about who-knows-what."

Many specialized camps are not sleepaway camps but day camps, which usually go from a Monday through a Friday for all or part of the day, for one or more weeks. Act One Theater School in Shaler, for instance, offers three day camps: one for ages 3 to 6, one for second- through fourth-graders and one for fifth- through 12th-graders.

Children study and practice acting, voice and dance at the camps, and give a performance at the end, owner Karen Cordaro says. Attending a camp that focuses on a particular skill or interest benefits children, she says.

"It's for kids who are interested in theater, and it really helps them to develop their skills and meet people who are interested in the same types of things they are," Cordaro says. "It's nice for kids to have options of ways to spend their summer, especially if there's something they're really interested in."

Charlotte Savocchia, 43, of Sewickley, has sent two of her children -- Mathilda, 10, and A.J., 7 -- to several day camps during the past few years, and she plans to send them to a sleepaway camp when they are a bit older. Her children have attended day art and theater camps, and Mathilda has attended a day Girl Scout camp.

"They've had great experiences," Savocchia says. "They've met people they wouldn't have met otherwise. I think it's been good for them as far as their social skills. Instead of sitting around saying, 'I'm bored,' they've really enjoyed it immensely."

Traditionally, children stopped going to sleepaway camps around age 14, Solomon says. The availability of specialized camps, though, has attracted many older teenagers.

Older kids, Solomon says, like the specialty camps because they think: "I don't have to go back to the same old, same old -- but now I can try new things, different things."

One example of a nontraditional, specialty camp is pre-college residency programs, which Carnegie Mellon University offers.

The school offers a six-week, intensive program for high school students inclined toward fine arts. Students live in the dorms with roommates and study the field that interests them, and gain many of the benefits of a traditional camp minus the woods.

"We try to simulate for them what a collegiate environment will be like," says Mike Steidel, director of admissions. "This is not going to be a nature experience ... but it's really meant to be an immersion kind of experience. It's very much of a bonding experience. A lot of self-discovery and a lot of confidence is gained."

Other specialty camps focus on sports, such as the basketball camps held each summer at Robert Morris University. The programs, which provide intensive daily basketball training, allow children to choose whether they want to live in the dorms or pursue day camp.

Don Smith, director of the Center of Leadership at the university in Moon, says using the word "camp" for the basketball program helps convey the fun involved, and that participants grow socially as they would at a traditional camp.

"I think that we all have fond memories of going to camp; a rural, wooded setting is one that we all think of," Smith says. "But we wouldn't want to say that we're going to have an engineering study group -- that's not nearly as marketable as a camp.

"It's a lot more fun," he says of the specialized basketball camp. "It meets the needs of the child's interests."

A camp for every child

Do you want your child to be a happy camper?

Jeffrey Solomon, executive director of the National Camp Association, recommends sending children to their first sleepaway camp at a traditional, forest setting. Save the specialty camps for later, if kids express an interest in a specific skill.

"General camps tend to be more nurturing," he says. "They realize that kids are going away for the first time, so they help kids adjust ... but some children do better ultimately in a nontraditional location."

In previous generations, Solomon says, summer camp was considered a luxury. Today, even though camp costs more, it is a necessity for many families -- particularly those with a single parent or two working parents. Kids as young as 5 are starting to head to sleepaway camps, which last an average of four weeks in the United States.

"For many families, camp is a multigenerational phenomenon," Solomon says. "It is certainly looked at as more than baby-sitting ... and an enriching opportunity."

Many local organizations offer summer day camps. They include the Carnegie Science Center, Carnegie Museum of Art, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, and the National Aviary. In Pennsylvania, many sleepaway camps are located in the central and eastern regions. Some camps to try:

Sleepaway camps:

• Most Read
• Most E-mailed
• Latest News