How important is summer camp? For my family it’s been as important as sending kids to school. We’ve tried a number of camps, including art and nature, and my son has learned so much in each. His favorite camp has been one that teaches kids to make movies, called Thomas Farm Films. We stumbled on it at the recommendation of a friend (Kevin Painchaud, a photographer at Lookout), who invited us to their film premieres six years ago. Although we had to walk out early because Parker was afraid during a movie called “The Spaghetti Monster”, we tried it during the summer, on the condition that if he hated it, he could leave.
He was the youngest kid there and he loved it and stayed five weeks. He couldn’t even read but they gave him some of the funniest lines to memorize. At one point in a movie, they had him driving a truck and he had the line, “Thanks for teaching me how to drive a stick,” which cracked up the whole audience. He had another line in a movie where he was being interviewed by a news crew about this fictitious camp and he said “Two words: best time ever.” That had the place howling with laughter and got him hooked.
Last month the camp had a two-hour showing of the movies they made over the summer and I could really see how much he’s developed. He gave his lines with authority and didn’t overact like so many kids do. He was like a pro. But what he really got, more than an ambition, was a way to become a public speaker and to overcome his shyness and inhibitions, which has carried over to every part of his life. The kids learned all levels of film production, working cameras, lights and directing. Now when we watch movies he tells me how they do things that I never knew.
He really got an education there while he was having fun and that’s what I love about camps: the best ones have things to teach that kids will keep for their whole lives. And one plug I should add: the Pajaro Valley School District has a program that funds kids going to camps and a bunch of the kids at the movie camp came from that. We’ll do a story soon about the PVUSD program and how it’s one of the best things a school district can do: make education year round and help kids who might not be able to afford summer education to get it.
It’s time to start signing up for camps and I would love it if you could send us some words about your kids’ favorite ones and why you would recommend them. It could really help parents make a big decision. Thanks so much. One other note: we have a great story this month about a nonprofit program that’s helped underprivileged high school kids get into college. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I wanted to put some of those kids on the cover of the magazine… but they were afraid because of the way brown people are being treated by the current regime. It’s so sad.
