<p>Does anyone know of a list of such programs? It's an awkward summer in some ways. It's hard for teens to find jobs around here, so we're wondering what our DS's other options might be.</p>
<p>What is his potential major?</p>
<p>Why on earth would you want your child to squeeze in an academic or otherwise structured program after finishing HS and starting a presumably demanding college life??? Let him be a child for her last summer. Most programs I know of (eg gifted) are not available for HS grads. Presume you are talking about next summer. Perhaps he could try to work at a summer camp in your region. No matter what he does it will be an awkward time- he’ll be wanting to leave home. If family finances permit take a trip somewhere- elsewhere in the US or Europe et al. It won’t be the end of the world for her to do nothing structured.</p>
<p>Addenda- my son was a bear- college couldn’t come soon enough, and he was still 16. Perhaps you could line up some needed around the home projects he could do next summer. Hire him as a handyman/gardener/whatever to keep him occupied.</p>
<p>Well, I assume you mean NEXT summer, since this one is nearly over. What about volunteering in an area of interest, if he doesn’t need an income. The non-profits around here have been decimated by the economy and rely on volunteers to operate many of their programs. The summer camp in my building has several volunteers interested in teaching, childcare, etc. and from what I’ve seen, they are getting as much as they’re giving. Lots of organizations do a lot of their fundraising in the summers, so if your son has an interest in working on supporting 5K’s or other “thons”, that might be an option. Non-profits often need people to help spruce up in the summer-extensive yard work, light repairs, painting, etc., and others need help with office jobs year-round. There are many other options I’m not even thinking of.</p>
<p>You’ve got a whole year to look into options-have your son research with the places he might be interested in.</p>
<p>wis75-My D would go insane if she wasn’t scheduled to within an inch of her life. At 13 she has had something going on every single day since the week after school got out. She would no more sit around and “be a child” than she would flap her arms and fly. She’ already got ninety-eleven things planned for fall-it’s how she operates. I don’t expect the summer after HS to be any different. They key is that SHE finds her opportunities, as the OP’s son should.</p>
<p>Jobs aren’t plentiful in our area, but my D2 managed to scare one up after applying at a lot of places. She started applying in March, didn’t actually find a job until June. She is a night stocker at Walmart – not glamorous, but actually a very, very good experience for her to work for someone other than her parents and with a lot of people who will not be attending college. Probably far better for her than an academic summer program would have been in the long run. A lot of her friends are doing things like restaurant hostess, lifeguard, or working at summer camps. One is out of town working on her uncle’s farm. It also puts some money in her pocket for spending money and books at college. Our kids did a lot of summer programs over the years, but our message to them was that the summer before college is the start of being an adult, and they needed to find some way to earn some money and get some work experience.</p>
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engineering, mechanical or electrical most likely</p>
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<p>It doesn’t have to be academic. I was looking at LARPing programs just now 
I would rather he not sit on his computer 24/7 all summer – that’s not being a child, it’s being a slug I’d love to find him something fun and rewarding to do for the summer. I’m not looking for academic, but an engineering program that is project based (bridge project or egg drop or something like that) he would love. Or LARPing. Or other geeky endeavors.</p>
<p>ETA: he’ll be just-turned-18 which rules out a lot of the more recreational options</p>
<p>A friend of mine took an auto mechanics course at the local community college the summer before he went to Brown. (He kept his 280Z going for years and years.)</p>
<p>My electrical engineering majoring husband took a low level summer job with an electrical contractor the summer before college and a job with an HVAC contractor the next summer, on a construction site. He has always said that it gave him a huge leg up on his fellow engineering students who mostly had only academic experience and were totally lost when they had to do practical applications.</p>
<p>He’s had a very successful career but he’s still able to do many things around the house that other highly educated people have to hire people for and he maintains that he can do the jobs better than they can. I don’t know if that’s true but it makes him happy and I’m very pleased that I seldom need to hire someone for home repairs :).</p>
<p>Camp counselor is not an option for him - not a good fit for his personality and skill set.</p>
<p>While I think a job is ideal, and is what my older son did, it’s not always that easy to find one. My older son actually preferred working to be dragged on vacation and in fact we took him to an internet cafe every other day so he could upload his work! </p>
<p>Younger son did an intensive language course - it ended up being too intensive for him, everyone else in the course had had some exposure to Arabic as it turned out, but at least it made him familiar with the Arabic alphabet. I think an immersion language program is a great way to spend the summer since they tend to be fun, a different experience from normal classes and if overseas, will also offer visits to local sightseeing and a student who hasn’t passed the college’s language requirement, might even learn enough to do so. That said, it’s an expensive option. </p>
<p>I don’t recommend doing any overly academic.</p>
<p>Other ideas: first aid, CPR and I love the idea of an auto mechanics course or other practical course.</p>
<p>My nephew was going to do WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms), but unfortunately recovered from knee surgery instead.</p>
<p>My younger son was never any good at finding opportunities. He knew he shouldn’t lie around playing video games, but he would never do the leg work himself. (Now a rising college senior he has transformed - mostly!) Older son had the computer stuff fall into his lap after I asked a brother to let him job shadow early on in high school and he proved so useful they ended up hiring him. So I totally get Mom looking for opportunities. :)</p>
<p>OP-I was speaking to someone just yesterday who was telling me about a camp they run where some older teens volunteered to teach the kids programming. NOT traditional counselor or camp stuff at ALL. She was saying how much the kids loved it.</p>
<p>My S is an quiet, shy engineering type and volunteered at D’s school last year when they did a building project. He did it to get in on the building (catapults) but turned out to really enjoy it, and the kids and teachers loved him. I’d never have thought he’d enjoy working with a bunch of rowdy 8th graders but he did, and he was good at it, too. I wouldn’t rule out an entire area of options. You never know.</p>
<p>If money allows, and he has an adventuresome spirit… Where There Be Dragons.
If money allows, and he has an adventuresome and somewhat more physical spirit… National Outdoor Leadership School.
There is plenty of time to be an engineer for the rest of his life!</p>
<p>Camp counselor wouldn’t have been a fit for my kid, either. In fact… sort of hate to say it, but night stocking at Walmart actually WAS a pretty good fit. She would rather not talk to people, and is a bit of a night owl anyway… I guess our philosophy was that our kids had already experienced a LOT of fun summers. And that the summer before college was the summer to get serious and start helping earn their own way.</p>
<p>thanks robyrm2</p>
<p>intparent, I would like him to get a job, I just don’t think it will be possible. I have friends with some pretty persistent kids who have had trouble, and my kid frankly isn’t that persistent. Unless something comes from his school-year co-op, which would be perfect if that works out.</p>
<p>Yikes, though, no, finances do not permit those options – we’ve got a cap of about $2500 (partially depending on the financial package he ends up with for school of course)</p>