By Danny Domingo (SuperCamp Graduate and QLN Intern)
I first discovered SuperCamp from my mom, an elementary social studies teacher, who constantly found up-and-coming methods and approaches to learning more efficient ways to expand understanding and education within schooling. ―Alan Domingo (my uncle)
Over the past thirteen years, my grandma Betty Domingo has sent ten teens to SuperCamp. All of us, my uncle, my cousins, my sister and I were initially reluctant to go, but we didn’t realize what a profound impact SuperCamp would have on us and how much the things we learned there would help us to become greater.
As a teacher, she was constantly finding new methods and approaches to learning more efficient ways to expand understanding and education within schooling, and one of those was Quantum Learning. In 2004, she attended a QL teacher workshop to learn the techniques to implement in her classroom. When she applied all of her learning, she was happy to see how effective it was. Her classroom was different from others because of how she created a QL environment, which was something people usually didn’t take into consideration. That was where she first learned about SuperCamp and their implementation of the latest brain research that allowed for faster ways and techniques to learn and do things. She was impressed. So impressed that she signed up my uncle (who was going into his senior year) for the camp and missed the last day of the QL conference to drive him up to Stanford.
Just like any other parent, she always wanted the best for her kids even when they may think the opposite. Needless to say, my uncle went but he wasn’t too excited about it. She remembers it being really neat to see him coming out of SuperCamp with a much more open attitude about everything, and she’s proud to see that he still uses the things he learned there thirteen years ago.
Sometime after my uncle attended SuperCamp, my great grandmother passed away and my grandma and her siblings received their inheritance. While her siblings used theirs for other things, she thought “What could I do to share this money with the family?” The first thing that came to her mind was the kids. All of the grandchildren, nieces and nephews who came from all different living environments. Some were better off than others, and not all of them enjoyed the same opportunities. After seeing the impact that SuperCamp had on my uncle, she decided to send us all to SuperCamp―my uncle, my cousins, and my siblings and I―so we could have a common language and connection from our experiences.
Growing up as a second generation American my grandma always felt like she didn’t fit in. She didn’t know what she was supposed to be, what she was going to be, or how she was going to find that out. She wished she could have a list of life skills that would help her to get where she wanted to be. She wanted to provide that for us through SuperCamp and the 8 Keys of Excellence so that we would be able to make these principles part of our lives and become stronger and more resilient individuals. My grandma wanted all of us to experience everything and have an opportunity for success that we otherwise would not have had.
She hoped that we would take away the same things that she took away from Quantum Learning and be able to apply them in our everyday lives. She was able to connect all of the 8 Keys to her religion because she realized that all of the 8 Keys embodied the qualities of Jesus, and she is able to bring the 8 Keys and life skills with her everywhere she goes to teach. She wanted us to have the techniques and skills from SuperCamp so we would know what to do and how to react in certain situations, that we would know that we could succeed whatever life threw at us, and that we would all be able to remind each other of the 8 Keys and continue to share that connection. She wanted this to be the gift she gave to the family and everyone else she touches.
All of us who have attended SuperCamp have different experiences, but similar outcomes: all of us became better versions of ourselves. For my uncle Alan, he remembers that his experience at SuperCamp and the confidence he learned there helped him to make learning more of an enjoyable experience rather than a necessity, and he credits his SuperCamp skills in helping him get into college. Two of my cousins, Carisa and Marlena, both expressed that they became more driven and willing to put themselves out there to try new things that resulted in career opportunities and they credit SuperCamp in helping them develop their confidence. My sister Melia went into SuperCamp feeling like she wouldn’t learn anything and she would always be a loner, but she soon made the 8 Keys part of her life and became much more confident and comfortable speaking with anyone she meets. Me? I didn’t have a direction in life. After my SuperCamp experience I found the drive and motivation to take opportunities that I normally would not have pursued to get where I wanted to be.
Although she wasn’t able to be with all of the groups after their experiences, my grandma noticed different changes in us as individuals. We were nicer, more mature, and we were thankful for what she had given to us. She saw that we were dealing with everything better because we knew the 8 Keys. She was very proud of all of us, everyone was elated and grateful and she was happy she could do that for us. She said “When I die, you and all your cousins will remember that I sent you to SuperCamp.”
My cousin Christian and I stood out for my grandma. Christian came out of a poor neighborhood with a single mom and his SuperCamp experience helped him further his life. Right after high school he went into the service and decided to get married, living the 8 Keys. He’s able to create and maintain a stable base for his family even though he’s out of the country. My grandma never thought that out of everyone, I would be the one to come and work at Quantum Learning. She was blown away with all of the things that happened to me after SuperCamp: I took extra classes, got a couple jobs, and landed an internship here at Quantum Learning all on my own, even though I struggle to do menial tasks around the house.
My grandma is confident that we will all find our way to personal success and fulfillment using the skills we learned at SuperCamp. She found what she was searching for after a roundabout path to “success,” with doors opening and closing to her at every turn: a list of skills and qualities that anyone could understand and follow to be the best we could be. She found this at Quantum Learning. It was the most impactful thing that she learned from teaching and it’s what has brought her and my family members the connection of common language and confidence that we can become greater.
“We can read the world better and other people at the same time if we have and know the 8 Keys.”
For information about Quantum Learning’s SuperCamp go to www.supercamp.com