Marywood sponsored summer camps for high school students are becoming few and far between as financial burdens and fees are weighing heavily on the programs.

The two-week architecture camp “Design Your Future” is one of the only Marywood sponsored camps left. Camp Director and Assistant Professor of Architecture Kate O’Connor said the camp is not immune to fees.

“We have to pay a 70% fee every year for insurance, occupation of rooms and utilities,” said O’Connor. “The cost can get pretty tough.”

The fee is not only an issue for running camps, but also with new ones that are trying to start up. Associate Professor of Art Christine Medley said a new art camp for the coming summer was canceled because it couldn’t get its feet off the ground.

“I can’t really get into the details, but it became cost prohibitive and a lack of manpower and time to run them,” said Medley. “We hope to run some weekend workshops in the future, but that’s in the works.”

Despite costs, O’Connor said she is hoping to work more closely with Marywood to make the “Design Your Future” camp more successful.

“I think Marywood could truly utilize its vacant buildings in the summer to provide pre-collegiate experiences to expose high school students to it’s incredible offerings,” said O’Connor.

With the camp enrolling anywhere from 20-24 students each year, O’Connor said she feels the university could use high school camps as a marketing opportunity for these potential students attending the camps.

O’Connor said she feels that if Marywood were to roll out a better system for charging high school summer programs on campus, a door of opportunity could be opened for new camps to offer unique experiences to students.

“The current academic camps and programs are charged fees that increase camper costs and if a unified platform were designed, additional camps could be offered and used as a recruiting method for the University,” said O’Connor.

However, there is hope for the status of summer camps on campus

According to Chairperson of the Science Department Dr. Deanne Garver, a new weeklong STEM camp is being co-chaired this summer by the science and math departments. This new camp will be a follow up to last year’s biotechnology camp which was run solely by the science department.

The newly implemented STEM camp will join the “Design Your Future” camp as being one of the only two academic summer camps geared towards high school students left on campus.

O’Connor said she is hopeful for Marywood’s future with high school camps.

“Imagine a group of high school students studying a variety of programs at the same time, also enjoying the campus in the summer and creating bonds that will last into their collegiate experience,” O’Connor said.

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