I went to a Wake Forest summer camp in July, under the Policy & Politics Institute. It’s been several months, obviously, but I thought now that I’ve had some time to reflect, I would give my thoughts on it.
I was nervous before being dropped off, as I was not only going to be away from my family, but it was academics-based, so I was worried about not seeming “smart enough” and being put on the spot and coming up with a wrong answer, or something like that.
I was dropped off around 3 on the Sunday before the week started, and headed to my dorm to start unpacking and getting settled. The place was buzzing with energy and lots of teen campers, excited to start the week. As soon as I got talking to my roommate, and other people in the dorm, I calmed down and started having fun. One of my great friends from elementary school and middle school was there as well and it was so fun to reconnect and we had a blast talking the whole week. We headed to dinner and did some icebreakers after (I despise icebreakers but I survived💪). That was the first day. The dorms were quiet so I slept really well the whole week.
The way the camp was structured was that we had breakfast every morning and right after we would go to class with our institute. Then we would have class for a couple hours, and then lunch. After lunch, we would resume class until 4 and then we were free for the rest of the night to do whatever. They had activities (tie-dye, s’mores, football, basketball, etc), or you could walk around campus, hang out in the dorms, or your personal dorm. I loved this flexibility- and you could have dinner whenever you wanted. I felt like the camp resembled a college in that way. Class in the morning and then do whatever with your day after. I spent most of my evenings chatting with my roommate, my childhood friend, and my sister. We hung out in our dorm or outside on benches. It was very relaxing and fun- definitely my favorite part of camp.
As for the actual class part of it, it was interesting and very discussion-based. We had guest speakers almost every day, and we even took a field trip into town and the courthouse. The professor was very nice and knowledgeable. The other kids in my institute were pretty nice and we had conversations revolving mainly around politics and we did not focus much on the policy side of things. The class also did not talk about mental health or anything around youth health. I don’t love talking about politics so some aspects of camp weren’t that fun and some discussions were boring/uninteresting. Overall, I was pretty engaged and did learn stuff about how voting and politics work in the states.
It was a fun, learning experience and although I was ready to go home by the end, I don’t regret going!
Out of My Mind 