Aspiring Jason Bourne-like CIA agents can sign up for this intensive one- to four-week course on a 74-acre campus northeast of Los Angeles, where training sessions each morning focus on military skills like shooting (paintball guns), self-defense, climbing and evasive go-kart driving techniques. According to Pali Adventures, the Running Springs, Calif., company that runs the camp, some techniques taught at Secret Agent Camp are "classified under national security" and only revealed in person to participants.

 

SCUBA diving, sailing and marine science are focuses at Seacamp, a non-profit educational facility on Big Pine Key in the Florida Keys. Campers from 12- to 17-years-old stay in cabins on site and explore coral reefs, mud flats and tide pools by day, learning and recreating with camp instructors and scientists in the blue water and tropical sun.

 

 

For kids more interested in academia than the Adirondacks, Musiker Discovery Programs of Roslyn, N.Y., runs camps that put high-schoolers onto university campuses around the country. The College Discovery Program includes visits to dozens of college campuses, courses on training for college admissions tests, and workshops on how to best craft an entrance essay to get into the college or university of your dreams.

 

"No canoes, lots of Rock"—that's the slogan at Camp Jam, a five-day overnight program where guitarists, bassists, drummers, keyboardists and singers are pushed to "unleash their inner rock star." Led by Camp Jam founder Jeff Carlisi, the former lead guitarist of the rock band 38 Special, days at Camp Jam are filled with group lessons and celebrity visits from music stars like Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ed Roland of Collective Soul and Peter Stroud, a guitarist for Sheryl Crow and Don Henley. A Friday night concert serves as a finale where campers jam and play in front of a live cheering audience.

 

On a private lake in New York's Catskill Mountains, French Woods camp offers kids an immersion in the performing arts—from acting and magic to dance and circus trapeze. Kids pick a major and a minor focus to hone skills in multiple interest areas. Swimming, boating, hiking and other traditional camp activities are part of the French Woods program as well.

 

An international option to summer camp, this tour company caters to its eponymous clientele (teenagers) by balancing "the fun teens seek with the substance parents demand," in the company's own words. As such, trips to countries like Greece, Spain, Italy and Thailand provide ample free time for the coed groups as well as immersive days spent learning about local culture or touring historic sites. Trip categories include cultural exploration, language study and community service.

 

Marketed to girls aged nine to 16, the Fashion Design Institute at Pali Adventures camp in Running Springs, Calif., lets kids design their own line of clothing under the guidance of working professional designers. Girls create sketches and illustrations, choose fabrics, and assemble garments. Then, at the end of the camp week, the kids show off their work in a grand finale fashion show.

 

Learn freestyle jumping and ski flying at Utah's Olympic Park, a Park City, Utah, facility used by Olympic athletes in training. Summer camps at Olympic Park put kids as young as seven years old on artificial slopes and teach ski jumping. For freestyle, skiers lift off from a ramp and land in a swimming pool, flipping and flying through the air with skis on before the wild—but safe—splashdown.