While pre-college summers provide teens with an opportunity to immerse themselves in a genuine interest – which can majorly influence summer success – there is more to a summer than the given topic at hand. Other key factors can have a major impact on whether a summer is successful – and in turn, a successful summer can play a significant role in developing their college readiness.
Below are two key aspects of summer experiences – Structure and Staffing and Supervision – that we seek to understand to help our clients make holistic decisions for their students’ pre-college summers.
Structure
One “extracurricular” factor that can influence a student’s summer is the type of structure an experience offers. Some summer experiences offer more or less constant structure – many outdoor adventure and community service programs will keep participants busy almost throughout the waking hours with projects, treks, or other scheduled activities. Some academic programs will also provide a great deal of structure outside of classroom hours, with organized outdoor or social activities to take advantage of during this free time. Even some organized internship opportunities will provide students with a robust, well-structured residential life.
At the same time, there are experiences of all types – experiential outdoors programs and campus-based academic options – that treat their participants more like college students. Teens on these programs can expect more downtime to socialize or complete tasks – but they may not have much structure surrounding that. Most internships or traditional jobs will not provide students with much (or any) structure outside working hours – it’s important to consider what your teen will be doing when they’re not on the clock.
Summer experiences can provide an incubator for the social-emotional growth that will position your teen to thrive in college – and structure is a major part of that. By understanding what kind of structure your teen will do best in, and understanding what experiences provide that structure, you can make sure they’re set up to undergo that growth.
Staffing and Supervision
Different programs also have vastly different approaches to what they look for when hiring and training staff. If you’re considering an outdoor adventure or community service program that includes time spent in rustic conditions, it’ll be important to understand what credentials trip leaders have. Are they Wilderness First Responders – what credentials point to their ability to responsibly handle an emergency situation?
Simultaneously, it’s also important to understand how leaders are trained to manage the group dynamic. Do they lead ice-breaker games, do they have regular group or individual check-ins? If your student is very social and adjusts to group-life easily, this may not be the primary concern – however, if you have a teen who struggles to socially connect at times, this component is of paramount importance.
When considering Academic programs, you’ll want to understand both who the faculty teaching courses are – are they college professors, TA’s, or someone else? – and who the residential advisors are. Understanding who will be teaching will be a prism to understanding the rigor of the program – a class taught by a college professor is more likely to present college-level coursework. Understanding the Residential Advisors and their involvement will also be key to gaining insight into the program – some programs have RA’s who are heavily involved in student-life, including developing activities and holding nightly or weekly check-ins; for others, RA involvement is minimal and amounts to a purely supervisory role.
Most internships or jobs will not provide a student with much residential support – at many of these experiences, a boss or supervisor is just that. However, some experiences, including research mentorships, can provide a valuable adult mentor who can form a valuable relationship with the student and really help them develop their interests. It’s worth considering if you think your student will benefit from an adult mentor, and how you might go about identifying one.
The Holistic Approach
It’s easy to see how the areas surrounding an experience’s content can have a huge impact on a teen’s summer – and aspects like structure and staffing are just the tip of the iceberg. When working with Everything Summer families, we also take into consideration factors like student composition, location and environment, and types of accommodations – among many others – which can all majorly impact a student’s experience. Every teen is different, and there is no one “right” approach – so in order to make a confident decision with regards to fit, it’s vital to understand both your teen and the experience(s) you are considering.
By taking a thoughtful, holistic approach to summer planning you’ll not only set your teen up to explore an area of interest – you’ll position them to grow in a way that will set them up for success in college and beyond.