Teen Adventure Camp Program Comparison

Most typical summer teen programs have two staff with 12–13 (or more) students; our programs have up to five to six staff with up to 20 to 24 students. Our larger staff teams are hugely beneficial to our students: More instructors mean:

1. More personalities for students to learn from and become close to;
2. A larger range and depth of knowledge, skills, personality dynamics, and experience;
3. More flexibility in optimizing student experiences;
4. And students will get the personal attention, guidance, teaching, and role modeling they deserve.

They are the backbone of our trips. Read more about our rigorous interview process for new instructors.

We don’t hire inexperienced college students looking for a summer job, like many other teen summer camps do. Our instructors are professional educators, and they return to our program because they fall in love with the community and are passionate about working with teenagers in the outdoors. Both new and returning staff go through at least two weeks of training every year (senior staff receive three weeks), and spend the weeks before their trips scouting, planning, learning about their specific trips, and getting to know their students.

More important, our instructors are able to create the safe, nurturing environment we’re known for, while also maximizing the FUN and WOW aspects of the trip!

Lastly, you’ll notice we are one of few programs who showcases our instructors’ biographies online for all prospective and enrolled families to read.

Most other programs cap their student groups at 12 to 18. However, since Adventure Treks’ inception, we’ve successfully run larger student groups of 20 to 24. There are myriad benefits:

1. There are more students from a wider variety of backgrounds to befriend.
2. We spend time in both the big group and in smaller groups of eight to 12 throughout the trip, depending on the activity. Smaller groups are beneficial in activities like backpacking, where students get more personal time with each other and instructors. They’ll get to cycle through different small activity, cooking, and tent groups throughout the trip.
3. Social dynamics are easier to manage. When you’ve got only 12 teenagers, your student spends the entire trip with that one group. With a larger group, instructors can fluidly manage social groups; if two students don’t mesh well together, we can create groups so that doesn’t negatively affect theirs or the group’s overall experience.

We include more in our tuition—like all outdoor equipment—with no hidden or extra costs. Other adventure summer camps not only require parents to pay for gear, but also for laundry, photos, and even showers. At Adventure Treks, we understand that a summer program is already a significant investment in your child’s life; we won’t nickel and dime you for gear.

Many other programs have large groups of students from one particular area, like Washington, DC, New York and New Jersey, or south Florida. We’re proud to attract students from all four corners of the United States, and from around the world. In 2022, Adventure Treks has the pleasure of welcoming students from 44 states and 16 countries!

We understand that our students are trusting us with their summer, and we make sure they don’t regret it. In fact, teenagers have such a great time that 50–60 percent of our students return to us for multiple summers (the highest student return rate in the industry). We focus not only on fun, but also on building a safe, judgment-free zone where students feel free to be their true selves. Our students are able to learn about themselves while making great friends in a respectful, positive group.

Students learn leadership, community-building, and outdoor skills in large and small groups—never alone.

In the last decade, many outdoor-centric companies have shifted to a model of including service on many of their adventures. We could make a lot of money if we chose to do this. However, we would feel guilty making money on something we believe rarely accomplishes most of its intended goals. Volunteerism on the local level has a powerful effect, even for middle and high schoolers. It costs nothing but time, and you can see the direct result of your actions. We do not see these same long-term benefits with international community service trips, also known as “voluntourism.” We’ve declined to follow the market on offering service trips. And here is why: All of the research and literature demonstrates that community service trips are rarely impactful on anyone but the individual taking the trip.

Read more here.

We do our best through our parent questionnaires, student questionnaires, character and school references, health forms, and follow-up conversations and interviews to make sure that our students are capable of the physical as well as the social and emotional aspects of our trips. Everyone deserves to have a great time—we want it to be easy to make new best friends!