<p>What are some great summer experiences your son or daughter has had? Jobs, travel, summer school, volunteer work...anything that worked.</p>
<p>And while we're at it, what are some of the plans that didn't work out quite the way they were supposed to?</p>
<p>One of my kids had three successive summer internships. One of them was at a very prestigious organization; the others were ordinary. The prestigious one was a dud. There wasn’t anywhere near enough for the interns to do, and they spent about two-thirds of their summer just sitting around. The other two internships were much more meaningful and interesting experiences.</p>
<p>Best experience D2 (now a college junior) has had was what started as a low-level clerical job for an extremely high-maintenance entrepreneur. She ended up gaining valuable work experience because so many of her co-workers got fed up with the boss and quit midstream.</p>
<p>My son enjoyed a music trip to Europe between his sophomore and junior years of high school. He went with Colorado Ambassadors, but there are similar trips run in 37 states. </p>
<p>Students are nominated by high school music teachers, and at first I assumed it was a scam. It was not. It was a extremely well organized, with several hundred students, music teachers (chaperones). The bands, orchestera and chorus performed in 5 or 6 different countries. It whet his appetite for travel - he would like to do a semester abroad. In 2008 the total cost with expenses was close to $5000, but it was 16 days of incredible experiences. DS was ready to pay “his half” from his savings, but my dad jumped in and covered half of his half - what a great thing for a grandparent to do!</p>
<p>[The</a> SCA (Student Conservation Association)](<a href=“http://www.thesca.org/]The”>http://www.thesca.org/)
Great internships in great places.</p>
<p>loveday2 - I was just going to suggest Student Conservation Assoc too. My son did this last summer and it was a great experience He spent a month in the backcountry 7 miles from the nearest dirt road. He completed the last portion of a hiking trail at 13000 feet elevation. It’s not for everyone but if your kid is outdoor oriented its a great program.</p>
<p>D is a ‘pirate’ on a ‘pirate ship’ as a summer job-- an hour long adventure for kids 3-8 or so. She loves the playacting, the little kids, and being on the water all day…and not averse to the tips either. </p>
<p>But…she did a summer program at BU last summer and it was a great experience, and a wonderful preparation for college-- helped her think about where she wanted to be, what she wanted to study, what life will be like at school. I had no thought of any of this when she decided to do it, but now I’m just so glad she has that experience under her belt.</p>
<p>catdaddy, I can’t say enough great about SCA. In addition to opportunities for the outdoor enthusiast, there are many internships in urban areas that don’t involve the great outdoors, such as museum curation, historical and cultural resources, art & creative design. There are research opportunities as well as trail maintenance positions. Our S2 spent a summer with NPS on an east coast barrier island, and another summer in a FWS Nat’l Wildlife Preserve in an urban area on the west coast, as well as an alternative spring break at Padre Island, TX. His best friend spent two summers with the Bureau of Land Management in Alaska. Both have recently graduated and their internships were pivotal in landing their positions which they absolutely love. I would encourage students and parents alike to browse the [categories</a> and currently listed positions](<a href=“http://www.thesca.org/serve/internships]categories”>http://www.thesca.org/serve/internships) to see just how varied the opportunities are.</p>
<p>Wow,</p>
<p>I got so involved in reading those internships that I timed out of CC. They sound so interesting.</p>
<p>Last summer my D did an internship at a law firm in Madrid. She did lots of different things and even was asked to read cases and offer opinions. I don’t know what is typical, though, in internships of this kind.</p>
<p>It was also exciting because Spain won the WC.</p>
<p>Good point loveday2. My son is a HS senior this year so a lot of those internships were not available to him. He was on a national conservation crew in the Great Sand Dunes National Forest in Colorado. I was thinking more for from a HS perspective but obviously many on CC have older kids that would have more options available to them. </p>
<p>My son loved it but it was a lot of hard work. Living in a tent for a month and using a hand dug ditch for a latrine is not everyone’s cup of tea. However, I should point out they also offer other options that are in campsites with running water and bathrooms, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info about SCA and all the other posts. </p>
<p>I’m surprised that no one has mentioned anything about summer study. There are so many travel programs and opportunities to take courses in different locations. I’d love to hear from people with experiences in those areas.</p>
<p>D who is a HS senior did JSA at Georgetown and Kenyon Young Writers. She absolutely LOVED her time at Kenyon. She also worked at a summer camp for 4-6 year olds where she was a magician for 3 hours a day. It was basically a science camp. She had a blast along with the kids.</p>
<p>D1’s went to many ballet summer intensives, but her best summer experience was at our state’s Governor’s art school. It was very competitive and funded by the state. </p>
<p>They had many different programs - arts, environment, science, engineering. Five years ago, they had school of arts, which is the one D1 attended. They had a band, orchestra and dance group. D1 said that out of whole state they selected only a handful of players for each instrument (3 trumpet players, 2 drummers, flute players…), and the talent they had was amazing. At night, after 14 hours of practicing all days, those kids would still jam in the dorm. There were 12 dancers that summer, and guest instructors were amazing. Unfortunately this program was cut due to budget cut in the state. It was the best summer program for D1, it made her grow tremendously as a dancer.</p>
<p>S1 spent a summer studying in Beijing, which he really enjoyed, and he taught little kids Martial Arts, which he really loved for two summers.</p>
<p>S2 spent a summer in training China before his freshman HS year, attended a life changing course in American Law & Litigation at the University of Chicago, toured Europe with a Jazz Band, and attended an amazing live-in Jazz workshop. His summers were quite full.</p>
<p>It really is amazing to read what some kids do with their summers. My kid was an athlete who traveled on his summer league teams and worked a hard-core blue collar labor job when he was home to earn some real money. Not as sexy or glamorous as some of these other options, but I believe he learned a lot along the way that has been infinitely valuable to his education, one of which is that he knows what an education is worth vs doing back-breaking labor for a living.</p>
<p>Hopefully, this summer he will snag a great internship or research opportunity… he’s working on it!!</p>
<p>D1 taught English and Social Studies through the Breakthrough Collaborative for 3 summers (summer after senior year, then after freshman & soph years of college). It was a GREAT experience, even though she may not ever become a teacher. They also paid her :D</p>
<p>Thanks for the additional posts. It’s great to hear that so many students have enjoyed their summer courses. Also, very helpful. Until you hear from people who have been there it’s just a bunch of glossy brochures.</p>
<p>I’ll second Breakthrough Collaborative. D taught for two summers. It was a wonderful experience. Plus, the job duties kept her so busy that she was able to save all of her paycheck, which gave her a nice little bank balance when she started back to school in August. It also helped her (I feel) land a paid internship with Americorps this year.</p>
<p>My S went to CTY for several summers, until he aged out at 16, and absolutely loved it. We sent him to CTY for the social element–it is full of quirky, geeky kids like him–but he has been able to accelerate in his Computer Science major now that he is in college, due to the classes he took there. That was a completely unexpected benefit.</p>
<p>Then he got a job on the Geek Squad at Best Buy. It’s interesting, varied work and pays pretty well; S was able to save a fair amount for college, and also acquired a ton of the techy equipment he was yearning for, at the employee discount rate. The job was great at encouraging adult, professional behavior that spilled over to his interactions outside of work. Earning his own money also made him a lot more financially savvy.</p>
<p>After 8th grade and 1 year of high-school level Spanish my D went to Guatemala with a school group from our county, for a three-week total-immersion Spanish program called Casa Xelaju. The program, which was quite reasonably priced, makes money for a school and orphanage for local children; the visiting American kids live with families and do some volunteer work with the program during their stay. It was culturally very enlightening for my D, and it really jump-started her Spanish. She’d been a pretty indifferent student of Spanish until she went to a place where she had no alternative but to use it to communicate. Lightbulb went on in head! In the two years since she has had an A or A+ in Spanish every term.</p>
<p>I found a begining film makers class for next summer at U of Chicago. Was looking for something in creative writing but D thought this sounded interesting. She is a HS freshman so hopefully staying at U of Chicago will get her interested in exploring some college searches.</p>