The right way to spend your summer

Students spend roughly 190 days a year from 7 a.m. until 3 p.m. inside a school building. What gets most people through these drawn-out days is knowing that eventually summer break will come around and they can escape the stress of everyday school life. Among these stressors comes the decision of how to spend the summer- a summer-long job or internship, or an overnight camp?

Growing up in society today, teens are faced with the constant pressure from their parents to be the best in order to have a successful future. Whether it is through obtaining good grades, being accepted into the best colleges, or filling up their resumes, teens have the mindset to achieve in high school solely for the basis of eventually having a prosperous future. Although a summer job seems like the best way to get ahead in life now, it’s not the ideal option for a high school student.

An overnight camp is the ideal place to spend your summers. What could be better than growing up in a safe and nurturing community that lets you be anyone you want? Camp is an escape from the stress of the outside world and a new opportunity to discover yourself, try new things and step outside of your comfort zone. Creating lasting memories and friendships isn’t so bad either. Most people can’t stay at camp forever, unless they earn a life-long position (which would be awesome), so parents start pressuring teens to stop returning to camp at the end of their camper career. Instead of sending kids to become counselors, parents urge kids to stay home and find a more serious job or an internship.

Although a summer job has the possibility to give teens an advantage in the future, camp gives the desired advantage now.

According to the American Camp Association (ACA), camp builds the social skills, self-confidence and self-esteem that all lead to an increase in kids’ leadership skills. Camp builds numerous skills, while an unpaid internship offers nothing worthy of competition. In a survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), it was discovered that of the 48 percent of college students that previously took part in an unpaid internship, only 38 percent of these students were afterwards offered a job. This is only one percentage point above the rest of college students that were offered a job with no internship experience at all. NACE concluded that an unpaid internship offers no advantage to a student’s job-seeking life.

Not only is spending your summers at camp more enjoyable, but it can also teach you more than any internship or job could. Being a camp counselor is a full-time job that comes with a lot of responsibilities. This job requires skills that include taking care of campers twenty-four seven.  Whether these skills be nurturing, teaching, listening, inspiring, or making quick decisions, the advantages here are incomparable.

Still not convinced camp is the best decision? How about a compromise.

There are plenty of camps that offer work-related experiences. STEM is just one of them. STEM is a summer camp that focuses on “Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math” and has 100+ locations, such as New York, California and Ohio. This is the world’s number one tech program for kids and teens ages 6-18. This camp still gives you the experience of going to a fun overnight camp, while incorporating future career experiences.

Go to camp for as long as possible and worry about the “real world” later. Instead of planning for the future, plan for right now. The skills gained at a summer camp provide the ability to face anything now, but also later in life. Whether this is having the confidence to go after a job, or even the critical decision making skills to pick the right job, camp plays a role in anything you may come across.