Yes - or Gvoke - which is glucagon in more of an epipen type format. I think most people can handle that much better than the old mixing style.
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I recall an orchestra and choir rehearsal camp in the 80s, with middle and high schoolers, about 45 min from our town, several days. We were in a large multi grade room, and one of the 5th or 6th graders had T1. The first evening, her friends (not herself) from her class very authoritatively lectured us (i think i was 8th grade?) on the possibility of night lows, needing to keep a coke ready and making sure she’d drink it. We just nodded and rolled with it.
Now, looking back, I am in awe of the responsibility and maturity those kids, both the kid with T1 and her friends, had to take on for her to go away to camp, and be as safe as she could be. And in awe of the mom who I am sure was gnawing her nails all week!
I have a kid with a different condition, but also one where a strong network and support system makes all the difference. I would look for a strong ethos of community and mutual support in a school, where a kid would feel proud rather than inconvenienced by being trusted with the health of a classmate.
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Just recall there are special camps for kids like mine, where they are eased into and supported in the transition into greater independence. I know that the pandemic has basically cancelled every thing of the kind, but worth looking into.
I guess the “support” idea depends on personality. I don’t think it is appropriate for 5th or 6th graders to have that kind of responsibility, for the presentation or the Coke. My kid has other health conditions along with type 1 and does not want to involve anyone beyond me having a phone number if the Follow app shows an emergency. My kid would also never ever go to a camp for kids with type 1 or her other condition. There is no reason not to go to a regular camp (in her case music). Segregating kids based on a health condition doesn’t appeal to her at all.
Don’t mean to be controversial. Every kid and every family is different. Luckily the technology available makes these issues moot.
Regarding glucagon: the school nurse would not train anyone to do glucagon, teachers and sports coaches would not do it, and even EMT’s were not allowed to give it because it was injected. Therefore I had to accompany her on every field trip and sports game. I could not even work. The nurse called me- on a landline- ever hour.
It’s wonderful that they have found a way to do glucagon without mixing and injecting. The spray may be better because lay people can do it, like the teachers and coaches mentioned above.
For anyone who is interested in a diabetes camp, my son loves Camp Sweeney in TX. He says it’s like a 3 week vacation from his diabetes and I credit the camp with him developing independence in middle school so he could go away to boarding school. It’s like a regular summer camp, lake and activities, but with a fabulous medical staff! Www.campsweeney.org
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Appreciate the viewpoint. Like I said - it was the 80ies. Parents and kids were on their own with this. I see the risk. When my kid’s aide left and they had trouble finding a replacement, his elementary school designated fourth graders to help, and this went so well they were wondering whether to institutionalise this, as opposed to getting another regular aide in. I stopped that in its tracks - they couldn’t really appreciate the responsibility they were loading on these kids’ shoulders. Okay in an emergency because it was always better than nothing, but it wasn’t a sustainable plan.
I suppose it’s like women’s colleges, or HBCUs. Despicable discrimination as long as it’s enforced, but a welcome safe space if voluntarily sought. These kids work so hard at “being normal” all year, sometimes it’s such a relief to not be different for a few days in the year, particularly for adolescents transitioning into self responsibility and self advocacy. If a kid didn’t need it, props to her!
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What does HE want to do?
If he wants to go farther away I would have him show you he can take care of those night time lows and get his own sugar (have a juice box next to his bed at all times for example or whatever).
Also what is his plan if his insulin pump or CGM beeps at night? It would drive me crazy and I cannot imagine what that would do to a roommate.
Spouse of Diabetic
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I’ve told my son he needs to either get a single or a sympathetic T1D roommate due to the alarms- his siblings want to murder him after a shared hotel night 
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I will never forget the night that, in my time as a resident advisor in the mid '80s, the RA on call called me because a student on her floor was seizing. She called ME because I was a little bit older, and was doing my post-bac pre-meds (like that qualified me for anything), and asked me, “Should I call the duty officer?” (supervisor, who was on call for the entire campus) I immediately said, “You call the duty officer. I’m calling 911!” Ran down and found a young man seizing, and a roommate said, “He’s a diabetic, and we think he’s been drinking.” I knew so little, that all I knew to do was turn him on his side, so he wouldn’t aspirate. I knew that alcohol contained calories, like a sugar, so I didn’t know whether he was having low sugar, or high sugar. No one knew what to do. I was so tempted to take a packet of sugar and put some inside his cheek, but I didn’t know if I’d make things worse or not.
Of course he was bottomed out on his blood sugar, from the alcohol. Turned out that this wasn’t the first time it had happened, and yet, his roommates didn’t know anything about what to do for him. I think that he wound up going home, to get more stable, and to deal with his alcohol problem, which was much more of an issue for him than it would have been for a non-diabetic college kid.
Anyway, I think that how close you need to keep them has a lot to do with how responsible and competent your child is about managing their diabetes. Lots of adolescents are in denial. Lots of college kids are going to drink alcohol, even the diabetic kids. Some kids have already shown how super responsible they are about managing their diabetes on their own. If your child is the kind who takes great care of themselves, and keeps you in the loop, and will allow you to follow along via apps with their blood sugars and insulin regimen, and will allow you to be in touch with their roommate (or sig other, since that happens too, and the person winds up sleeping there a lot), then I think a person like that can go wherever they want for college. If they’re still in that adolescent denial mindset, and are not good at managing their diabetes themselves, and still need you closely involved, then I’d say no more than two hours’ drive from home.
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At least in the case of my son, we have had very honest and open conversations about the type of scenario you described. We are lucky that our son has not started drinking in high school, but are not naive about the fact that he will likely drink in college. This summer we are planning to go to a “beyond high school” event at his endocrine center that addresses drinking and also plan to do some home “training” this summer. He understands the importance of knowing limits and communicating with his friends about his disease. I’m not as worried about the drinking he may choose to do as much as I am about forced/coerced drinking in a hazing situation. This is a huge factor for us in which school he ends up choosing.
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