“Okay, who wants to tell me what they did over the summer?”

A teachers asks a classroom full of nervous students on the first day of school. She hears about trips to the Grand Canyon, a few kids spent a week at the beach, and a lot just respond with “nothing.”

But then there is the kid who spent his/her summer at America’s Finest Summer Camps. Their hand shoots up when the teacher asks for volunteers to tell the class about their summer vacation. With confidence, he/she starts talking about how exciting it was to drive though the gorgeous scenery and arrive at one of the most beautiful places they’ve ever seen.

They talk about the clear lakes and the mountains and the acres and acres of grassy play space, sports fields and wooded areas. They describe the excitement of meeting their counselors and bunkmates for the first time, and assure the other kids in the class that being away from home isn’t that bad at all! They’ll make their classmates mouths’ water when describing the countless options of freshly prepared food, from the fresh fruit and salad bar to the pasta bar and “made from scratch” soups made daily. They will explain how they went kayaking, mountain biking, fishing, tried lacrosse, golf and zumba. They will try to explain the feeling they had when they were sitting around the campfire, singing songs and making s’mores, but words won’t do it justice. They’ll offer to teach the class some of the things they learned in comic book illustration class, or mention they will be trying out for the dance team this school year ever since they tried it at camp and fell in love with hip hop dance.

The teacher will look at her watch and realize 10 minutes has gone by and this kid is STILL trying to list everything they accomplished in just a few short weeks. The rest of the class will sit in awe, not wanting to share their summer stories because it doesn’t even come CLOSE to being as cool as a summer spent at America’s Finest Summer Camps. Some of the kids in class will go home and start to research and talk about camp with their parents, and hopefully get to experience all of these exciting opportunities for themselves.

Teachers can tell the difference between a kid who stayed home and played video games all summer and a kid who went to camp. The kid who went to America’s Finest Summer Camp just comes back to a new school year a little different. They have high self-esteem, are confident, are willing to try new things, work well in groups, show extraordinary leadership skills, are responsible and respectful and hard working.

Every kid wants to be “that kid”; the kid that has hundreds of cool stories and experiences to share with others, who had the chance to try new sports and activities that they may not have had a chance to try had they not gone to camp.

When the teacher asked you what you did this summer, did you have a lot to say? If not, consider spending this summer at America’s Finest Summer Camps and go back to school next year as the kid who had the best summer vacation on the planet.