What is the future of traditional summer camp?

I have done a lot of thinking about the direction of the summer camp industry.   Traditional private camps and, in particular, resident camps, typically provide a wide variety activities and attempt to foster character development, intelligent risk taking, leadership, responsibility, empathy and other important values.   Camps do so, in large part, through having campers live together in cabins with several young adult counselors who serve as role models and leaders.   There are also many camp-wide activities, such as campfires and all-camp competitions, songfests and the like, that foster the same values. 

Over the past few years, many parents and campers have begun to discount the character growth that traditional camps offer and instead have sought out experiences that provide some sort of immediate benefit.  While some, including me, view this as unfortunate, it seems to reflect the reality of our increasingly competitive and specialized society.  Parents want to know how camp will help their kids in the short term by improving their skills in a particular area, whether it be soccer, web design or movie making.  Campers want to pursue their own interests, not be forced to partake in activities that they’ve never tried and have no interest in trying.  As a result, the growth in camping has been in specialty camps which focus on one particular activity.    Unlike the vast majority of the traditional camps that I have described, the specialty camps are generally located in facilities, like colleges and secondary schools, where campers are housed, 2 x 2 in dorms.   These settings do not allow for cabin life with counselor role models, and therefore can not promote character development in the same way that a “traditional” camp can. 

I believe that summer camp must be transformed to meet the market demand for specialized or affinitized experiences while, at the same time, exposing as many children to what is best about camp.  Many who would not consider a “traditional” camp are likely to consider and attend a “specialty” camp which is also traditional.  In this way, camps can evolve and grow.