Camp for success: are you over making lanyards? At a career camp, you can learn a lot more than how to pitch a tent!

Career World, Feb-March, 2007 by Tracey Middlekauff

Have you ever wanted to make a film, study sea life, learn about forensic science, or act in a play? You can get your chance at a career camp. Also known as a specialty camp, such a program is a fun way to test-drive a career before you commit to a college major or a career-preparation program.

Unlike at a summer job or internship, at a career camp you'll get to be around like-minded kids all day, notes Joanne Paltrowitz, director and owner of Camp Experts, a camp advisory service. Besides, she adds, you'll probably be working for most of your life--why rush it?

To get the most out of your camp experience, Paltrowitz suggests that you "take something that's of interest to you"--not something your parents think you should do. Whatever your passion, there's likely to be a career camp that's right for you. Here are just a few examples.

Want to create your own video game? That's just one skill you can learn at a computer camp. Cybercamp is a computer technology camp that offers day and residential programs for kids ages 7 through 16 at colleges and universities around the country. Campers can choose one-, two-, or three-week customized programs in such areas as Web design, digital photography, flash animation, programming, and robotics. (Yes, you get to build a robot.) Adam Urban, director of the Cybercamp at American University in Washington, D.C., says participants "learn a cool new skill and create a foundation in all sorts of technical fields." But, he stresses, camp is not school, and he strongly believes in the program's motto: "Human brains learn more when they're having fun." Kevin Melton of Front Royal, Va., now a high school senior, took flash animation during his first stint at camp. Last year he returned as a counselor-in-training. "Any kid interested in technology should check it out," Kevin says. His favorite part of camp? "Playing games online with all the other campers."

More info: cybercamps.com

Got a nose for news? Then check out a mass-media camp, such as FivePoints, a communications and journalism program for 8th to 12th graders at Union College in upstate New York. At this two-week residential program, students analyze the media, reenact shows such as Nightline, and write and produce a student newspaper, the FivePoints Post. Tova Frankel, a senior from Lagrangeville, N.Y., says that working on the paper in a real newsroom environment--complete with deadlines--was her favorite part of camp: "Sometimes it's hard to push myself, but I learned I can write when it comes down to it." Last summer, students visited Bloomberg News in New York City, where they met writers and saw how a live broadcast is put together. According to Greg Moore, a senior from Dover, Mass., "There's something in it everyone can like. ... I didn't think I'd like writing a big news story, but I like sports, so I did a sports column. That was cool."

The FivePoints program also covers other career areas, including business, economics and entrepreneurship; digital creative arts; forensic science; psychology; sociology and American popular culture; and cultural anthropology.

More info: www.union.edu/fivepoints

Do your friends tell you you're a little ... dramatic?

Maybe the theater is your calling. The

Stage Door to the Future program at Eastern Washington University includes a two-week intensive day camp, open to kids ages 8 to 17. From 9 until 5 every day, participants act, dance, and experience musical theater. They also develop special skills, such as mask making and stage combat. The whole shebang culminates in a performance showcase. And if the acting bug really bites, campers can audition for the Teen Conservatory, an 8-week non-residential program in which students perform a full-length play. Natale Szabo, now in 10th grade, wants to be a theater director someday, and she learned a lot, thanks to her director's professionalism: "She pays so much attention to detail," Natale says of her director. "We [didn't] slack on anything!" And don't worry if you don't live close enough to attend. Don McLaughlin, who runs Stage Door to the Future, says that professional theater companies in most cities offer some type of summer youth program, and many universities with drama departments have programs as well.

More info: www.ewu.edu/x5075.xml

Curious about the world of high finance?

Future moguls can learn to navigate the stock market like the pros at business camp. One such camp, the Wall Street 101 program at Bentley College in Waltham, Mass., a one-week residential program open to high school juniors and seniors, is an intense immersion into the world of business. Campers spend most of the morning in a trading-room environment, learning how to value companies and competing to see who can make the most money. It's OK if you're not already a financial whiz, according to program director Katherine Lampley, but "it's not for the fainthearted. There's no dumbing it down." The week also includes a field trip, like last year's visit to the Boston Stock Exchange. Camper Roman Palylyk says, "It can be intimidating at first, but the [trading simulations] showed me so much about Wall Street and stocks." And Amanda Helfand of Cabot, Vt., loves that she got to see what it would be like to be a student at Bentley, her first-choice college.