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Ask Slashdot: Tech-Related Summer Camps For Teenagers?
First time accepted submitter jcreus writes "I am a teenager (aged 14, though turning 15 before summer), and I've recently been looking for summer camps in the USA. My interests include physics, mathematics (to a lesser extent) and computer science (I already know several programming languages). However, I haven't been able to find anything really exciting. The difficulties I've found include the fact that most are general-oriented, whereas I'm seeking something specific. Furthermore, some are USA-student-only (and I'm European), and most computer-science oriented camps seem to be for non-programmers. What are your experiences with such camps?"
space camp! run by NASA.
I'd suggest Wolfram Summer school, http://www.wolframscience.com/summerschool/2012/ It is math-oriented programming, in Mathematica. I have not gone there myself, but Mathematica is a quite nice language. However, Stephen Wolfram is sort of strange, being obsessed by cellular automatas and all that, but otherwise, my guess is that it is a nice school.
NO! NO! NO! Summer camps are the perfect time to NOT do academic work.
If you are a parent, then send your child as far away from the city as possible. Let them learn about canoeing, hiking, fishing, and yes (especially for teenagers): let them learn about the birds and the bees.
Leave your laptops and cell phones at home. If you really want to expand your mind (or your children's mind), then make sure they learn how to play (video games excluded).
Your children may not get into Princeton, but they will learn how to NOT take schooling and social status too seriously, and hence they will (hopefully) NOT get into a position where they make 6-figure incomes. One thing I've noticed is that the higher a person's income is, the more out-of-touch with reality they are. So let's think less about math and technology (for summer camp!!) and more about Philosophy, suntan lotion, and condoms. Let kids be kids: not robots.