SuperCamp is more than just a summer academic enrichment program. The 8 Keys of Excellence taught at SuperCamp help students focus better for life.
By Daniel Shedd
The recent movie Warm Bodies is a zombified tale of teenage romance. Early on in the movie, the male antagonist gives us a voice-over introduction to his world. He notes the degradation of language (“This is my best friend. Sometimes we grunt at each other.”) and, at one point, laments for the time before the zombie apocalypse began.
He wishes he could live in that time again, when everyone could express themselves and talk to each other. As he describes it, a dream-like vision appears around him, showing perfectly healthy human beings all chatting on their cell phones, listening to music from their cell phones, or typing furiously on their cell phones and other gadgets. The world before the zombie apocalypse wasn’t too far from the world after.
At SuperCamp, we talk a lot about the key This Is It. It’s our first key of the day and we remind ourselves for all ten days about stepping outside of our comfort zones and living in the moment. Many of us have habits that prevent us from really living in the moment each day. Most of us are permanently “plugged in.” We’re constantly checking Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or Google+ or
Tumblr or Reddit or our text messages or our Snapchats or our Words With Friends games or our Draw Something games or a million other things…
The list is endless! We’re multitasking all the time! Unfortunately, brain research has reinforced the idea that multitasking is, ultimately, counterproductive. Think of our focus as a television. We can switch channels pretty quickly, but we can’t ever have two channels on at the same time. Similarly, our focus can only stay on a single task at any one time. So when we try to switch very quickly between our phone, laptop, television, homework, and driving, we end up missing a lot of important details.
So my challenge to all of us is this: simply start noticing how often we check our phones or Facebook or any of the other things we do to distract us from living the This Is It principle. Once we start noticing how often we do it, we can start to put those distractions aside and truly be in the moment. Besides, have you ever noticed how slowly someone who’s trying to walk and use their phone at the same time often walks really slowly? They sort of shuffle around, bumping into things…almost like zombies…
Visit www.SuperCamp.com or call 1-800-285-3276 NOW to speak with an enrollment counselor and learn how to help your child increase their grades, confidence and motivation.
About the Author:
Daniel Shedd earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Texas Christian University. He loved being a SuperCamp Camper and Team Leader. Dan has been a Facilitator since 2011 and will be a Facilitator at Brown University during summer 2013. He is also pursuing his Master’s Degree in Education.
About SuperCamp:
SuperCamp offers academic and personal enrichment program summer camps for teens, including specifically designed summer programs for high school students, middle school students, and college students respectively. These educational summer camps provide ideal college prep skills and help instill positive values for life based on The 8 Keys of Excellence by Bobbi DePorter. SuperCamp’s academic summer programs for teens help students increase their grades, confidence and motivation.