Cultivating Youth Affinity for College Within the Context of Campus-Based Summer Camps

Abstract

College and university-based (CUB) summer camps are a prominent pre-collegiate experience targeting middle and high school adolescents, which research suggests may enhance college aspirations and preparedness, develop academic knowledge and skills, and influence future career choices. This study examines factors that predict the relation between affinity for college, program engagement and support, college major selection, and social–emotional outcomes stemming from youth involvement in a CUB camp based on data collected from 641 middle and high school-aged youth who completed an online questionnaire on the last day of the CUB camp. The findings validated a 4-factor model comprised of college brand awareness, college relational expectations, college academic interest–science, and college academic interest–technology. Further, the structural equation model (SEM) results suggested a relation between affinity for college, program engagement and support, and social–emotional outcomes. In addition, a CUB camp student’s lack of a college major had a significant negative direct effect on some dimensions of affinity for college including college brand awareness, college relational expectations, and college academic interest–science. CUB camp providers can use the results of this study to better articulate how their programs might impact adolescent decision making related to college, as well as inform how CUB camp providers may intentionally create affinity spaces that maximize student awareness of college brands as well as their future expectations for the college experience.

The benefits of summer camps for identity building and socio-relational development of young people: development of a theoretical model adapted to young Francophones from disadvantaged backgrounds

“…Cet afflux a inspiré plusieurs chercheurs, dans les vingt dernières années, à documenter l'impact des milieux de camps de vacances, notamment sur le plan du développement de compétences, telles que le leadership, l'indépendance, la résolution de problèmes et la régulation émotionnelle (Garst et al, 2016 ;Richmond et al, 2019) ou encore comme précurseur de l'estime de soi et du développement positif (Martin, 2018). D'autres auteurs ont étudié l'impact des séjours en camp de vacances comme une composante complémentaire dans un plan d'intervention pour un enjeu bien précis, par exemple auprès de jeunes atteints d'obésité (Benestad et al, 2016;Burke et al, 2015;George et al, 2016;McGregor et al, 2016), en suivi psychothérapeutique (Enoch & Dixon, 2019) ou encore en relation avec le développement de compétences plus pragmatiques, telles que la conscience environnementale (Collado et al, 2013) et l'adaptation future aux milieux de l'éducation au secondaire ou professionnel (Garst et al, 2021;Whittington & Garst, 2018 ;Wilson & Sibthorp, 2018). Or, peu d'études se sont intéressées aux apports du contexte de camp de vacances sur les plans de la construction identitaire et du développement socio-relationnel.…”