Junior Session Sunset

It’s true that despite the school calendar challenges, there is more than enough demand to fill our camper spaces in Junior Session. From a pure numbers perspective, the staffing challenges are the primary driver of this decision.

There is another challenge with Junior Session, which relates to our waitlist. Prior to 2015, we had a waitlist, but it cleared every year. We could reliably say to new families that if they signed up before Thanksgiving every year, they’d get in as soon as the returning camper guarantee expired on November 30. If they signed up in March or April, they’d likely not get in that summer, but they would the following. That was a comfortable status quo.

Since 2015, we have not cleared the previous year’s waitlist when the returning camper guarantee expires on November 30. The waitlist rolls over from year to year. It often takes several years to get in, and some campers age out of their camper years never getting off the waitlist.

In that dynamic, families found themselves in a situation where the most reliable way to get access to the returning camper enrollment guarantee is to attend Junior Session. Campers can only attend Junior Session for two years, so the waitlist turns over more quickly. These days, the vast majority of the first-time four-weekers are returning Junior Session campers.

Making Junior Session the best way to get into the four-week session isn’t fair to the many families who don’t have the option of attending Junior Session due to their school calendar.

If this were the only issue, a potential solution would be to continue to offer Junior Session, but not give those campers returning camper status for the four-week sessions, but given that there are staffing challenges as well, we’ve judged that the better course of action is to focus on our core program, the four-week sessions.

Unfortunately not. Junior Session actually got its start staffed only by alumni. Camp moved on from that model because it was unsustainable. Moreover, if we bring in a mostly new staff for Junior Session, we’d need to run another staff training in between Second and Junior Sessions. Given that the fundamental problem is one of not enough days in the summer, that’s not a viable option.

In terms of getting the programs into the days available in the summer, yes, and we considered this option. But, the four-week session is the core of our program. It’s what we do best. It’s what leads to people still thinking of Four Winds as one of their key formative experiences even as adults. Altering the four-week sessions in order to allow Junior Session to continue isn’t consistent with Four Winds serving youth in the best way we can.

We’d recommend attending a one or two-week session at another great camp. There are many, and arguably a camp that does shorter sessions all summer, as opposed to one tacked on to the end of the summer, will do a better job of it than we do. We are part of a wonderful organization called the Western Association of Independent Camps. This is not just any association. It’s a group of 50 or so camps across the West, all of which are committed to excellent programming, and many of them offer one and two-week programs. If you don’t already know of a great camp that offers shorter sessions, we’d recommend starting with WAIC. We’d also be happy to talk you through any options you’re considering.

Campers on the 2023 Junior Session waitlist who do not get in will retain their original waitlist date for the purpose of getting into one of the four-week sessions, and so will be ahead in line of families who sign up in the future.

We closed the Junior Session waitlist on December 15, about three weeks after this announcement went live. The waitlist is quite long, and campers added to it now are very unlikely to get in for summer 2023. Children currently in 3rd or 4th grade are encouraged to get on one of the waitlists for our four-week sessions. Children in 2nd grade and younger can get on the waitlist for one of our four-week sessions when they are eligible, the fall that they’re in 3rd grade, or a fall thereafter.

We understand the desire to do this, but we only put children that are age-eligible for camp on the waitlist. The good news is that no current kindergarten-aged or younger child will be on the Junior Session waitlist for 2023, so when they are in 3rd grade, and ready to apply for the four-week session as rising 4th graders, they’ll all be on a level playing field.

Rising 2nd graders in summer 2023 will be rising 3rd graders in summer 2024. The youngest campers in our four-week session are rising 4th graders, so this cohort will not have an option available to attend Four Winds in 2024.

This is a challenging situation, and we are sorry for it. A solution could be to allow rising 3rd graders to attend the four-week session in 2024, but we don’t think that’s a good idea. The vast majority of 3rd graders are not ready to be away from home for four weeks, and allowing them to come a year early has the potential to sour their entire camp career. Even if an individual child is ready, we would have to place that camper in a cabin or tent with 4th graders in 2024, which can be challenging, and in 2025, they would be a returning four-week camper when all the other 4th grade campers were new to the experience. Even the best-case scenario isn’t very good. It’s better to wait until they’re the right age for the program.

Campers that attend Junior Session in 2023 will be returning campers, so those enrolled will be guaranteed a spot in the four-week session once they’re ready.

2nd graders on the 2023 Junior Session waitlist who do not get in will have a very early waitlist date when they are eligible and ready for a four-week session.

If this announcement results in a family wishing to withdraw from camp or from the waitlist entirely, they can do so with a full refund. Our cancelation policy says that enrolled families can withdraw from camp before November 30 with a full refund. Given this announcement, we’ll automatically extend that to December 23 for all enrolled Junior Session campers. If you need longer to decide, please give us a call. Families on our waitlist can withdraw at any time and receive a refund of their deposit.

If your camper attends Junior Session in 2023, they will have returning camper status, and will be guaranteed enrollment in a four-week session when they’re ready. You just need to sign them up before November 30 prior to whichever summer you’d like them attend.

In the meantime, we’d encourage you to pursue increasingly independent experiences for them (camps and other independent experiences that are longer, further away from home, with fewer known friends from home, or otherwise further outside their comfort zone) to help get them ready for a four-week session.

We are always attempting to improve and adjust to a changing world, but fundamentally, no. The rationale behind this decision is that the four-week session is the core of the Four Winds experience, and we intend to preserve it.