The heart of the NAPCA Summer Academy is our career focused curriculum, which is designed to help students explore different career paths to help them learn about future academic and career possibilities and make connections with professionals from different career fields to get a taste of what a future career might be like. This will also help students have a better idea of what they want to study in college and start participating in internships or volunteering their time to experience their future career path. Students may find that they actually don’t like a certain career, and it’s better to learn this now, than when they are already in college and have spent a lot of time and money on an academic major or career training program that they no longer want to pursue.

While building lasting relationships with peers, students will participate in a rigorous weekly program schedule filled with lots of indoor and outdoor fun activities and supplemental academic instruction courses in mathematics, writing and grammar, and public speaking. Students will also engage in academic skills development seminars, social-emotional development workshops, and career exploration seminars and simulations. Additionally, students will experience college life through interactive college tours designed specifically for elementary and middle school students.

Yes!  In California, organized camps are under the jurisdiction of the California Department of Health and therefore exempt from Child Care Licensing, which is overseen by the Department of Social Services. All of our California locations adhere to the 300 health and safety standards by the American Camp Association. Each Spring, we reach out to all local health departments to notify them of our summer program operations to ensure that we’re satisfying all of their requirements for Day Camps. Since licensing requirements and exemptions do change from time-to-time, we’ll continue to monitor and respond to updates in our requirements as a Day Camp in California.

We provide continental breakfast, lunch, and healthy snacks for our students.  Most of our lunches come from local food vendors and are prepared fresh just moments before lunch. If you decide, for whatever reason, to pack a lunch or additional snacks for your child, please leave out any products containing nuts for the safety of other children who may have severe allergies.

No. Parents will need to complete an online admission application for each child in their family.

Yes. Parents will need to complete the online scholarship application and upload additional financial information to be considered.  Parents should submit ONE scholarship application per family.

Online Scholarship Application: https://summer.napcaonline.org/scholarship-application

Applications for admission are reviewed weekly and admission decisions are made on a rolling basis. We will take applications until all seats have been filled. Students are notified of their acceptance to the program within 2 weeks after they submit their online application including required documents and completion of the student and parent admissions interview.

There is NO application fee and deadline to apply! We begin accepting applications on November 1 and will continue to accept applications for admission until all spaces are filled. If your program or location is full and you are a qualified applicant, you will be placed on the waitlist.

You will be notified of your acceptance to the program by email. The notification is sent to the email address provided in your online application for admission. Be sure to use an email address that you check frequently.

After you receive your letter of acceptance to the NAPCA Summer Academy, you must pay your program fee in full or pay at least 10% (nonrefundable deposit) of your total program fee to hold your seat in the program. If you do not submit at least a 10% nonrefundable deposit within 2 weeks after you have been accepted to the program, your seat may be given to another student. Please contact us if you have any questions.

10 STUDENTS PER STAFF

Our student’s safety and providing the best supervision is our priority. Our student to staff ratio is 10 students or fewer per staff.

Yes. Criminal background checks, sexual offender checks, and personal and professional references are mandatory for all staff members. Each program location has a Director and staff members who are CPR & First-Aid certified. We regularly evaluate our program staff and instructors to make sure our high standards are met.

Yes. All program staff are required to attend regional training sessions prior to the start of each summer program.

FRIENDLY AND HIGHLY EXPERIENCED STAFF

Our instructors are passionate about teaching college and career readiness courses  — this is a must. We recruit industry professionals, college graduates, current Masters and PhD degree students, and upper-level undergraduates. Many NAPCA alumni return to “pay it forward” once they’re qualified to serve on our staff roster.

Absolutely! We can accommodate children with special needs—within the limitations of our resources, natural surroundings, facilities, staff ratios, and program standards—while preserving the nature of the learning experience for all students. We are not able to provide an attendant (one-on-one staff member) to address a student’s personal needs, nor can we accommodate medical conditions or impairments requiring treatment beyond the scope of our staff.

Before enrolling a child with special medical, mental, or psychological needs, please contact us to discuss potential accommodations.

Every state has different regulations on how to store and administer medication in a program setting. We are aware of, and follow, each state’s specific requirements. We have a consulting physician that has set our policies and procedures according to the regulations of the state. Additionally, at each location, there is at least one person who has the state required training around first aid practices. You can reach out to our office to find out the specifics for how we can support your child’s needs.

We have had students who used insulin pumps or needed injections attend our program. We are happy to remind students to come to the program main office, giving them a quiet place to administer their insulin and rest. If a student requires support in order to interpret the results or receive their insulin, we can work with you to provide that.

Each situation will be addressed differently depending on the nature and circumstances of the incident. If there is an incident that is pretty minor (i.e. first time incident, no one seriously hurt), we’ll speak to the children to let them know that sort of behavior is unacceptable. We’ll also connect with their parents to let them know about the incident. If this were to happen repeatedly, we would consider asking a child not to come back. If there is a more serious incident involving any kind of significant injury or if a child poses a risk to himself/herself or others, we would call the parents immediately to have that child picked up and would consider asking them not to come back.

Very rarely does bullying (unwanted, aggressive behavior that involves a real or perceived power imbalance and is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time) occur at our program. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose. We take bullying very seriously and involve the parents and children of all parties to have a deeper discussion and take action from there accordingly to keep all students safe.

Safety and security are always top of mind. There are a number of things we do to ensure the safety of our students. At each location, we closely monitor who is entering and leaving the campus at all times. We set up our locations so there is one main entrance/exit. If there is a gate that cannot be closed to secure that entrance/exit, we’ll have someone stationed at or near it at all times so there is constant supervision of who is coming and going.

Any adult who is on-campus (beyond our check-in/out area) must have a valid background check on file with us or be escorted the entire time by one of our staff members. This is for the safety of all students in our care. Parents, guardians, or other designated pick-up persons who may wish to come onto a location must wait until a staff member is able to escort them.

When students arrive to the program, they sign into our custom-built database, which has all of the information that was provided by the parent when they registered, including who is allowed to pick up their child. When students sign in, they receive a badge, which is a physical indicator that the child has signed in and is registered.

At the end of the day, anyone who comes to pick-up a student must be on the authorized pick-up list. A staff member will check the list (and the person’s ID) before letting the student leave. 

When choosing new locations for our program, security is one of the top priorities. We choose locations that are contained and easy to supervise. We also go to great lengths to set up our own physical barriers or to supervise entry and exit points on campus.

There are several things we do to address the summer heat. We set up shade tents so students can get some relief from the sun. We provide large water activities such as giant water slides and inflatable water play structures which will be offered on hot days. We always have lots of sunscreen on hand. Drinking water is always readily available. There are lots of indoor activities taking place throughout the day, and many of these take place in rooms that are air conditioned or equipped with fans.