Frequently Asked Questions

We run on a rolling admission schedule from December 4th to March 5th. Each month, we will evaluate students with complete application files to determine admission and scholarship award decisions. If your student is denied admission to a camp, you will be specifically notified. Below we have listed evaluation period cutoff dates, and notification periods. 

The 2023 admission review deadlines are:

• December 4th
• January 8th
• February 5th
• March 5th
  
  

We may accept late applications on a case by case basis, as some camps have their enrollment locked after that deadline. If you are applying after March 5th, please contact us at the email below before starting your application.

Application profiles must be 100% complete to be reviewed.

Please contact us at SternbergCamps@FHSU.edu if you have any questions about this process. 

A 10% deposit is paid at the time of registration. Students who are accepted into the camp must then have the remainder of the registration fee paid by the May 1st, 2023 payment deadline.

We require all students on our international programs to have a personal travel insurance policy, which we will bring hard copies of on our trip. You can learn more about travel insurance policies at http://www.travelinsurancereview.net/In the past, our students have used the companies listed below. CampDoc also offers a protection policy option as part of the application. 

insuremytrip.com
geobluetravelinsurance.com
uhcglobal.com

It depends on which camp you are applying to.

1) Camps that start in Hays, Kansas: Students can fly in to the Hays Airport. This is a small regional airport with flights going to Denver, CO and Salina, KS. If a student needs to arrive a day or two early in order to make flights work, no problem! We can make sure they are set up in the FHSU dorms for a small facilities usage fee, which would be applied to your CampDoc account. Our staff can pick them up at the beginning of camp, and make sure they get to the airport for their departure at the end.

2) Camps that start in Eugene, Oregon: Students can fly in to the Eugene Airport, to be picked up by our camps staff, who will be arriving in the Eugene area the day before camp starts. Students flying in by themselves should arrive the day before camp starts. We can provide the name of the hotel our staff are staying in the night before camp starts. Staff will be available to transport students from the hotel to the camp's start location. 

3) Camps that start in Colorado: Students can fly in to the Denver Airport, to be picked up by our camps staff, who will be arriving in the Denver area the day before camp starts. Students flying in by themselves should arrive the day before camp starts. We can provide the name of the hotel our staff are staying in the night before camp starts. Staff will be available to transport students from the hotel to the camp's start location

4) Camps that start in Arizona: Students can fly in to the Tucson International , to be picked up by our camps staff, who will be arriving in Tucson the day before camp starts. Students flying in by themselves should arrive the day before camp starts. We can provide the name of the hotel our staff are staying in the night before camp starts. Staff will be available to transport students from the hotel to the camp's start location

5) Camps that start in Utah: Students can fly in to the Salt Lake City, to be picked up by our camps staff, who will be arriving in the SLC area the day before camp starts. Students flying in by themselves should arrive the day before camp starts. We can provide the name of the hotel our staff are staying in the night before camp starts. Staff will be available to transport students from the hotel to the camp's start location

6) Camps with international destinations: Arrival airports are specific to each program. Students will be met by staff at the designated airport on the first day of the program, and transported to a nearby hotel where all staff and students will stay prior to departure. (Early arrivals are acceptable, but no more than 24 hours early.) Students and staff will then depart together from this same airport to the destination country. When going back home, students will need to plan for departing flights that work with the logistical conditions of the respective camp. For questions about scheduling arrival and departure flights for international camps, please contact us directly at SternbergCamps@FHSU.edu.

It is absolutely not a problem for the Camps staff to have students fly in alone. Keep in mind that students under 18 flying without a parent may be subject to an unaccompanied minor fee by the airline. Be sure to check with the airline you are using prior to your student’s departure, and plan accordingly. Information about all travel logistics should be included in the Health Profile in your CampDoc account. This can be completed following an application acceptance decision. 

Our in-person residential camps have an 8am drop off time for the first day. Students should be picked up or dropped off at the airport they are departing from no later than 5pm on the last day. 

Special arrangements can be made for students needing to arrive early or depart late in order to make flights work.

Once the applicant is accepted, make sure to  fill out the travel section of the CampDoc profile to accurately reflect travel arrangements. Information in the CampDoc packets will be printed out and provided to our staff for each camp. 

(Our virtual camps differ in start time one the first and last day, as we have to work around time zones respective students live in. This information is provided by instructors closer to the start of camp.)

Questions about travel logistics? Contact us at SternbergCamps@FHSU.edu 

We are happy to arrange for pickup of students traveling solo for one of our camps programs. The student will be picked up by a member of our staff at the airport in the city the camp is starting in. Any students under the age of 18 are required to fill out and return an unaccompanied minor form from the FHSU dormitories in advance of their arrival, if they are arriving early for a camp starting in Hays, Kansas. We can provide this form to you in the process of making arrangements for your student’s arrival. We also cannot have students arrive more than 48 hours before a camp starts, for logistics reasons. In some cases, we will not be able to have students arrive more than 24 hours ahead of time. Please communicate with us if you have questions.

For camps starting and ending in cities other than Hays, we can provide the name of the hotel we will have staff staying at the night before camp starts. Staff can provide asssitance with airport pickups and transport back to that hotel. 

Yes, this is absolutely not a problem. This can be requested through the CampDoc system once a student has been accepted to their camps. Some additional paperwork will be required, and will be transmitted as needed.

Unfortunately no, this is not an area of education our staff has training in. There are a number of other camp programs out there that offer programs with robustly trained staff to help special-needs students have the best experience possible at camp!

We have had many students with autism and/or ADHD successfully participate with our programs! However there are some things to be mindful of ahead of time: 

1. While we make sure to have high ratios of number of staff to numbers of students, we do not have adequate personnel to give any students continuous one-on-one supervision. Such needs create a safety concern in the field on camping trips, where students are expected to be able to listen to staff and excercise good judgement independently. Such needs are also problematic in classroom-based camps, where staff need to be able to move around and help all of the students over the course of an activity. 
2. For medications your student may take to manage their autism, ADHD, or other conditions, please treat camp like school and make sure they have more than enough supply to get them through the duration of camp. DO NOT send them to camp without medications they use to help manage their conditions during the school year. This can create immensely frustrating circumstances for the student as well as the staff and student peers. Also, make certain that all medications along with dosage and schedule are provided in the Health Profile on CampDoc. 
3. We have little control over the kinds of sensory stumuli students will experience in our camping programs. Students will not be able to use noise dampeners while in the field for safety reasons. We recommend students bring sunglasses if they experience sensory overload from bright lights. 
4. While we strive to make sure students have shower access every day, it sometimes is not feasible in the structure of our curricula. If students have difficulty with feeling dirty/sweaty, they should have a well-established plan to manage this while in the field. 
5. While we are able to work with specific dietary needs, and provide substantial amounts of food for snacks and meals, we cannot cater to hyper-specific food preferences while making sure students are getting proper nutrition over the course of the week. If your child is considering an in-person camp and is hyper-picky for any reason about their food, please contact the Camps Director (DALevering@FHSU.edu) ahead of applying to discuss your situation. 
6. Our camps are academically challenging by design. Students should be able to maintain focus on tasks, activities, lesson presentations, and discussions for extended periods without becoming overly distracted themselves, or becoming a distraction to others.

Please understand that while we want to make sure our students all have an amazing, supportive experience, our resources are limited. Students that prove to be a safety concern to themselves will be pulled and sent home at the parent/guardian's expense. Please make sure to carefully and completely fill out the medical information in the CampDoc Health Profile, and carefully read the waiver text as you complete your registration.

Yes, absolutely. There are plenty of hotels in the cities outside of KS where we start our camps, and all of our international departure airports to choose from if you arrive the day before the camp program starts.

Domestic Camps: This is typically not a problem, though it is very case-by-case. We can provide transport to the airport for their flight, or make sure your student is ready with their gear at the pre-arranged early pickup time and location. Early departure capability depends mostly on which camp the student is in, and respective travel requirements. Please communicate in advance with us regarding any early departure arrangements that need to be made.

International Camps: All flight logistics should be coordinated with us on an individual basis. Our international programs have set group return dates, and having a student fly back early would likely be prohibitively difficult.

• This will depend on the age group to an extent. We certainly won’t have as much live online lecturing for elementary schoolers as high schoolers, for example. A safe range will probably be anywhere from forty minutes to two hours of live instructor-directed content delivery; at the high school level, there may be some days that extend beyond this, though they should be infrequent. 
• We value creating learning opportunities that are student-driven, including games, projects, and puzzles. Lectures are typically used to get across essentials, and we try to make sure we use other kinds of activities whenever possible to engage students in the subject matter of their camp. 

We’ll be using a blend of learning and engagement approaches to keep things fresh and interesting throughout each camp. This will include, but is not limited to:

• GatherTown interactives learning worlds including puzzles, games, and exporation and discovery projects.
• Guest speakers
• Screen-share documentary viewings as a group, with time to chat and ask questions
• Remote field trips to outdoor areas, museums, labs, and more
• Q&A sessions with staff and guest scientists/educators

As our students are from across the United States (and beyond, in some cases), we aren’t going to know a specific daily schedule for each camp until after it completely fills up, or we pass the application deadline on May 23rd. We want to make sure the daily schedule for each camp is workable for all of the students across time zones, so no one is forced to get up super early, or go to bed super late. Once we have groups locked in for each respective camp, we will be in communication with participants about scheduling live-chat portions of their camp.

Camps staff and/or guest presenters will do a live-video from a museum, lab, or field area, with students viewing and using the text chat feature to make comments and ask questions. Locations visited will vary widely between respective camps.

GatherTown is a virtual-world creation system. We've figured out how to use it to make a virtual museum and virtual "field" areas to use as open interactive education spaces. Students go on fossil hunts, look for tropical birds and frogs, and even do college-level fieldwork exercises. To learn more, check out their website: https://gather.town/

This is the lobby of our virtual museum, which serves as a central hub of our virtual worlds metaverse. 

• In spaces where masking is not explicitly required, students will not be required to wear masks. However, students who wish to wear a mask will be encouraged to take such steps to make them as comfortable as possible with their in-person camp experience. 
• Field-based camps will not require masking during outdoor portions. Masking may be required on a case by case basis when visiting various indoor locations over the course of any given camp.
• Camp groups will follow all public health protocol requirements of the respective states camps are taking place in, and requirements of locations visited.
  • Example: If a state does not have a masking mandate, but a museum visited in that state does, then all students and staff will have to mask while visiting that museum. 
  • Example: If a public indoor space visited is in a state with no masking mandate, and no location-specific masking requirement, students will not be required to mask in that space, though they will not be discouraged from doing so. 
    
    

There are two pathways for participating in the in-person middle and high school camps, in relation to COVID19 vaccination:

• Applicants who have been fully vaccinated (including boosters as recommended by public health agencies) upload a photo or scan of their valid, up to date vaccination card to their CampDoc profile. 
• Applicant/parent(s) submit a detailed written plan for the applicant to quarantine for two weeks in the location where the camp being applied for starts. This includes hotel accomodations, plans for getting food, and plan for getting their COVID19 test in that city while minimizing contact with others. These written plans will be reviewed for adequacy before being accepted. Revisios/additions will be requested if detail is insufficient. 

One of the two approaches above will need to be followed for a student to successfuly apply to and participate in any of the in-person camps. All accepted participants will need to submit a negative COVID19 test result from within the 72 hours before their camp starts. 

Yes! Each in-person camp is provided 6+ COVID rapid tests in their materials. Staff are aware of their locations, and protocols on using them. If a student is showing sstereotypical signs of COVID infection, they will be asked to complete a rapid test so staff can make informed health and safety decisions for the student and broader camp group.

As with any other concerning medical issue, the student will be transported to the nearest medical facility for evaluation. We will most likely complete a COVID rapid test before taking a student in, depending on the severity of their presented symptoms. All positive COVID rapid tests will result in that individual being removed from the group to the nearest medical facility if needed, and/or to a hotel to quarantine. In each case, parents will be contacted about the situation and kept up to date on developments. Students pulled for COVID will not be able to rejoin the group, as the standard wait time for no longer being infectious outlasts any sensible timeframe for returning. We strongly recommend exploring insurance plans offered via CampDoc to cover unexpected expenses of having a student pulled from camp over COVID or other health issues. We expect parents/guardians to be expeditious in working with our staff to get the student secured so the staff who transported them to the hotel/hospital can rejoin the main group. This is mostly borne of safety concerns as we need full staff presence to properly and safely execture any of our in-person programs. 

In the case of our field camps, pulling a student from the field can be quite arduous, which is one of many reasons why we are enacting strict applicant COVID19 precautionary requirements.