Camping It Up

Like the Gap, cargo pants and long hair parted in the middle, summer camp is one more back-to-basics trend on the rise among today’s escape-hungry youths.

Since 1992, summer camp enrollments have climbed an average of 8% to 10% each year, according to the American Camping Assn. Today more than 5 million kids attend summer camp nationwide.

Although some argue the main reason enrollment is up is because more working parents need a place to park the kids for the summer, others say that’s nonsense. Enrollment is climbing because camps are offering more to campers, while providing a terrific enrichment opportunity not available at any other time of year.

“I feel free at camp,” said Caitlin Marticorena, 11, of Laguna Hills, who will attend Yosemite Sierra camp for the second time this summer. “I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to.”

Besides, says fellow camper Haley Hunsaker, 11, of Laguna Niguel, “I get away from my annoying brothers and sisters.”

Whether they go for enrichment or freedom, the fact is today’s campers have so darned much fun.

Besides increased popularity, camps are changing in several other key ways. Camps are attracting a broader age of camper and more international campers. They’re seeing more people opting for shorter rather than longer sessions and are offering more specialty and family camps.

Typically, camps used to accommodate kids from ages 5 to 15. Now, more day camps are opening for 3- and 4-year-olds, says Shirley Walch, executive director of ACA for Southern California.

The reason, says Susan Greenberg, director of pre-college services for Peterson’s, is that young kids are more sophisticated. They go to preschool sooner, have more available to them and, therefore, expect more.

Jeff Solomon, executive director of the National Camping Assn., sees big growth at the other end of the spectrum.

“In particular, 16- to 19-year-olds are interested in the high wilderness and exotic adventure camps,” he says. “In some cases they use summer camp during college as vocational training--say, in marine biology.”

Older teens who have a summer camp experience also may have a leg up when applying to college, Greenberg says.

“Colleges are looking for applicants with unique experiences,” he says. “If the teen spent two weeks scuba diving in the Red Sea, that solves the problem of what to write about on that dreaded college essay.”

Besides exposing children to other cultures through travel and language camps, our nation’s camps are becoming little global villages.

“Camp is really an American experience not found anywhere else in the world,” Solomon says. “As a result, we’re seeing more international campers than ever.” Today 10% to 15% of campers come from foreign countries, up from just 2% to 3% five years ago.

And although more youths from all over are attending camp, fewer are staying as long as campers used to. More families are opting for two-week residence camps as opposed to eight weeks, Solomon says.

Some of that preference is geographic; back East, four- to eight-week sessions are more popular. Greenberg notes that stays are also shortening because more campers are going to more than one camp, often a traditional camp followed by a specialty camp, the likes of which are also on the rise.

“As our society becomes more interested in customization and choice, we’re seeing way more specialty camps than, say, 10 years ago,” says Peg Smith, executive director of the ACA.

Specialty camps have sprouted up in every imaginable niche, from outer space to underwater to travel around the globe, as well as in more predictable areas of interests, such as tennis, surfing and fine arts.

On the downturn are computer camps. Once hot, camps specializing in computers are less popular, not only because more families have computers in their homes, taking some of the novelty away, but also because many traditional camps have incorporated some computer projects into their general curriculum, Solomon says.

“There’s a happy medium, and more parents appropriately are saying, ‘Let’s have the buffet.’ ”

To please those who want both a traditional camp experience and a specialty camp, some camps now offer a camp within a camp, Smith says. For example, at the River Way Ranch Camp, in Sanger (at the foothills of Sequoia National Park), kids can choose a traditional camp with an emphasis in water skiing, performing arts or horses.

For parents who want to join in the fun, River Way, like many others, also offers family camp, a chance for parents and children to get away together. Idyllwild Arts camp, for example, started its family camp eight years ago, and the program has grown every year, registrar Diane Dennis says.

“Parents remember how much fun camp was when they were kids and want to reexperience that with their own kids,” Greenberg says. Also, today’s working parents don’t always have the time to plan out a vacation chock full of fun for all.

Parents who can’t get away, however, can enjoy a vicarious camp experience by watching their kids grow and have fun. Except for occasional spells of homesickness, which almost every camper experiences, “camp is a win-win-win,” says Smith, herself the mother of two boys, ages 8 and 11.

As for the homesickness, Sydney Matthews, 10, of San Juan Capistrano, says not to worry.

“You’re so tired and having so much fun, there’s no time to be homesick.”

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Some Starting Points

ONLINE:

* The American Camping Assn.--https://www.ACAcamps.org or (800) 428-CAMP.

* The National Camping Assn.--https://www.summercamp.org or (800) 966-2267.

* Peterson’s Summer Opportunities--https://www.petersons.com/summerop (more than 1,800 summer programs).

PRINT:

* “1999 Guide to ACA-Accredited Camps” (more than 2,200 day, resident, trip and travel camps).

* “1999 Guide to ACA-Accredited Camps in Southern California and Hawaii”--call (818) 223-9232.

* “Summer Fun” by Marian Edelman Borden, for more information on how to choose a summer camp (not a directory).

* “Peterson’s 1999 Summer Opportunities for Kids and Teenagers.” Call (800) 338-3282.

* “Peterson’s Summer Fun--Traditional and Specialty Camps.”

* “Peterson’s Summer Fun--Travel and International Programs.”