Specialty camps create meaningful experiences
For Stacey Hoffman, executive director of Living Jazz in Oakland, there are two different types of specialty summer campers — those who signed up for a camp because they already know they love the particular activity and those whose parents either want them to or know they will.
But regardless, Hoffman, who runs Jamp Camp West, and other specialty camp staff around the Bay Area say that more focused programs allow kids to explore their natural interests more thoroughly than those at general summer camps. Yet they’re varied enough with things like crafts, free time and other related activities, that it’s rare for children to “burn out,” even if they’re at a sailing, theater or marine camp for a week or even a summer.
“Specialty camps ... take an inch-wide, miles-deep philosophy, which means that campers go deeper and have a richer, more meaningful experience,” said Laura Sherr, public relations and marketing officer at Camp SeaQuest, held at the Marine Mammal Center.
And even if a child doesn’t know they’d like to spend hours learning a particular skill, they usually realize they love it, said MaryBeth Cavanaugh, associate director of the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre.
“It’s probably intimidating at first for children who haven’t been in this atmosphere, but once they’re here ... they get swept up in realizing that they have an artistic point of view, they have a voice and by the end of camp they realize they just want to keep expanding that voice and their imagination because they feel free and comfortable,” she said.
For Treasure Island Sailing Center Executive Director Travis Lund, certain skills like teamwork, are best done in an environment that allows children to spend time working on those skills.
“We’re a character building program that uses a sailing platform,” Lund said. “Sailing inherently teaches us things like goal setting, communication and stewardship for the environment.”
Lund said as many as half of his campers each summer are first timers and sometimes parents are not sure if they’re kids are going to like sailing. If they do, a week isn’t long enough to learn everything, but it’s enough to get them hooked.
“We provide a nice safe environment empowering children and building confidence while providing a good foundation in sailing that is an opportunity for most kids to do something totally different than the other things around them,” Lund said.
Because of the shared interest among campers, specialty camps