The Summer Academy Camps at UGA, real fun for middle and high students

We were compensated for this post. All thoughts are our own and education rocks. Fractals are not something that Jim Henson created in the 80’s. Our 6 year old just started learning about fractals. I’ve been calling a fractal a Rorschach Test for ages, so his kindergarten teacher just taught me something too.   Summer camp has come a long way since I was a kid also. Now summer camps teach real skills that kids can apply to subjects they’re curious about or things that they want to become; a great example of these are the Summer Academy Camps at UGA.

The Summer Academy Camps at UGA are the camps that Hogwarts wanted to have for children who are 11 to 17 years old. They have a variety of specialty summer camps that are held in Athens, Georgia for middle and high school students. What does your student want to be when they grow up? Doctors, film directors, comic book artists (!), architects, engineers, lawyers to almost anything advanced in the real world has a class this summer.

This is no ordinary summer camp. There are day and overnight options available. It’s a chance for older kids to jump into the deep end of the pool of knowledge at one of the nation’s most respected college campuses. And, speaking of pools, it’s summer in Georgia. Even if you don’t opt for the overnight option your day students can have an extended day-with some time at Legion Pool.

Mini Medical School is one of the most popular classes. It’s for ages 11-15 and no prerequisites are needed. This is strictly for students who are curious about the medical profession and might want to study it. However, the tasks that they’ll do are 100% real world. As an intern in the class they’ll go on field trips, learn about health, procedures, equipment and hear presentations from a variety of folks in the healthcare like doctors, dentists, researchers and so on.  Because this class fills up quickly there are four different sessions

If our 6 year old keeps on his current track he’ll be in the Exploring Environment Sciences class. This class takes a look at the wide variety of options in environmental sciences, like horticulture, conservation, animals (herpetology…technically speaking that studies amphibians and reptiles), aquatic ecology and more. This is real stuff, with real things to learn and takeaways that students can plan future paths from. Of course, there are some times where he might also take the Comic Book, Creative Writing, Introductory Robots or Mock Trail class.

The day camps at the Summer Academy Camps at UGA start around $360 for a week. The overnight options exist for some camps and are around $810. If you opt for the day camps, but want to pick up your child just a bit later, they can have an extended day at Legion Pool for $35. There is financial assistance available, just check the individual classes for that information. Also, some of the classes are more advanced and might require supplies, if that’s the case then a detailed list of those things will be sent to you weeks prior to camp. Registration opens on February 23, don’t delay because many of these classes fill up very fast.

Have fun. The Summer Academy Camps at UGA aren’t like the ones I attended. 11 year olds making 3D structures that in theory, never end? Fractals rock.