Getting Back To Basics: Welcome to World Academy Summer Quest Day Camp

Do you know that feeling when you’re having such a good time that you lose track of time altogether? At World Academy, we believe that summer camp should provide that experience each and every day for your child. Not the ‘staring blankly at a screen for hours’ type of losing track of time, but the unforgettable, fun, belly-hurts-from-laughing kind of experience. The goal for our revamped approach to summer camp – aptly renamed Summer Quest – is to excite your child’s natural wonder of the world by providing a catalyst for creativity and imagination, while providing the freedom to explore and discover alongside their fellow campers.

Disconnect to Reconnect

Nowadays, if your kids are awake, they’re probably online. Such is the life of this generation of ‘digital natives’. This group has lived their entire lives surrounded by buzzing phones, flashing screens and signals from a multitude of channels of information. In fact, a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that children ages 8 – 18 spend more than seven and half hours each day with such devices. That’s over 52 hours per week and just shy of nine days per month!

Summer Quest is designed to provide a refuge from this deluge. Unplugging, if only for a two-week period, is vital to the mental and physical health of our kids. This gives them the opportunity to connect both with themselves and to forge real, lasting friendships with other campers; not as they do in the milieu of fleeting relationships formed on the Internet but the tactile, tangible, influential bonds forged in the physical world. Our pair of age-appropriate summer programs – Senior Camp and Junior Camp – provide informal opportunities for our campers to thrive and flourish, finesse the soft skills and have a summer to remember.

Happy Kids Are Kids At Play

Each day of your child’s camp experience at Summer Quest will be filled with numerous chances to participate in creative, age-appropriate indoor and outdoor games related to the theme of each two-week session. For instance, during Getting Lost in Books session – listed below – campers can immerse themselves in a life-sized version of Wizards’ Chess. For Harry Potter fans, this is a must-experience. During the Down By The Sea session, Ladder the Whale will be making a repeat visit. Last year, this 65-foot inflatable fin whale replica – spacious enough that children can walk through and explore – was a camper favorite. Just to name a few.

Below is the full list of themes and accompanying dates for Summer Quest 2016:

• There’s No Place Like Camp (6/20 – 7/1)
• Let’s Go On An Adventure (7/5 – 7/15)
• Down By The Sea (7/18 – 7/29)
• Getting Lost In Books (8/1 – 8/12)
• Mad Scientists (8/15 – 8/26)

Beyond these engaging, thematic activities, your child can participate in ‘minute to win it’ activities, carom games, treasure hunts, and learn the names and shapes of constellations. Campers will participate in tournaments of outdoors field games, horseshoes, geocaching, as well as indoor fun such as floor hockey and wall climbing where they will can earn medals of achievement. While learning about the importance of collaboration and physical fitness, campers will get the chance to work as a group to win a special Summer Quest prize! How about teams, not screens? That’s the Summer Quest recipe for success.

Why The Change?

The World Academy campus is outfitted with all the tangibles for an unforgettable summer camp experience. But after getting feedback from last year’s campers, we heard the unspoken wish for camp to be about kids getting the chance to be kids. This includes a lot of playful activities, friendly competitions, and just the right amount of spontaneity. And we will still offer a handful of offsite, education-based field trips into the mix! From daily, monitored swimming activities in our on-site outdoor pools, to free time on the natural playground, Summer Quest will be jam-packed with engaging activities for all campers with all kinds of interests to enjoy. Just as we did last year, Summer Quest will continue to offer a host of enrichment camps such as dance, karate, computer coding, and drama. There will certainly be no shortage of engaging activities for campers to enjoy on our awesome campus.

Summer Quest Specifics

Summer Quest will run five, two-week sessions from June 20th to August 26th for both camps. Each will have two groups: In Senior Camp there will be one for campers entering Grades 2 and 3 and another for Grades 4, 5 and 6. Junior Camp will have a separate group each for students entering Kindergarten and Grade 1. Different from last year, Senior Camp will now be offered in two-week blocks – just as Junior Camp has always done successfully – to help foster the friendships that come with a true camp experience. Summer Quest is also open to non-World Academy students so have your camper bring a friend!

Registration for Summer Quest opens February 12th and will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis. To learn more about Summer Quest or to sign up, contact Sarah Bishop, Programs Coordinator and Summer Camp Director, at sbishop@worldacademynh.com or by calling 603-888-1982 and connecting with Sam Bonenfant, Director of Admissions (sbonenfant@worldacademynh.com).

Our highly attentive staff of trained counselors, many of whom are teachers from our Middle and Elementary School programs, are looking forward to providing your child with a safe, professional, and consistent summer of unplugged fun. Let the games begin!