Appleby College Summer Programs: Parent Interview with Punit and Anjlee Patel

Watch our Parent interview with Punit and Anjlee Patel to hear firsthand what children experience and how they grow at Appleby College Summer Programs.

Transcript of the interview

What’s unique about Appleby College Summer Programs?

Punit

I think what’s unique about Appleby College Summer Programs is that it offers kids who have not left home to do something like this independently their first chance to do it in a structured way, ideally with friends. In our case, the campers were fantastic.

Our daughter was at that age where she was kind of teetering on doing things on her own, and this was her first chance to try it. It gave her that opportunity, and she had a really good time.

What would you highlight about Appleby College Summer Programs?

Anjlee

I think Appleby College Summer Programs is a great gateway camp. If your kids have gone to the day camp, then adding the overnight component creates a familiarity with it. It’s kind of a nice way for your kids to gradually grow.

Because we’ve been day camp participants for a number of years, we’re really comfortable with Appleby College. We knew what they were going to get, we knew they had amazing counselors, and there was this higher quality to the camp programming compared to other camps that our kids have been in.

How did you know that Appleby College Summer Programs was the right fit?

Punit

I think for us it was a few minutes after we checked in. Our daughter was very nervous for the days leading up to it, even though she had a friend who was in the overnight camp and even though she knew she would be staying in the same room with her friend. We found that there was still a bit of nervousness with her as she was getting closer and closer to the day.

During check-in, the counselors made it fun instantly and brought the kids in and started talking to them about all the different activities they would be doing throughout the week and all the fun they would be having. And so they totally took off that edge and any nervousness there was, and we felt that there was a shift within just a few minutes.

She was actually excited to be there and pretty quickly shooing us away, telling us to go away so she could be with her friends.

Was there any personal growth you saw in your child?

Punit

We noticed that it was a big jump in confidence for her. As the week went on and when we picked her up, there was an element of confidence there because, for the first time, she had stayed away from us or lived away from us for a week.

It was the longest we’d ever been away from her, and it gave her that confidence that she could do it. She could be independent. She’d be okay. She’d survive, and she’d have a good time.

How can parents overcome hesitancy to send their children away overnight?

Anjlee

I think it’s definitely helpful if you’ve been a part of the Appleby College community and sent your kids to the day program because it does become quite gradual to add the overnight component.

I think the drivers that got us over the hump and made us want to encourage our daughter to go to the overnight program were some of the social skills that we were sure she would gain in that environment and, really, the element of independence. We wanted her to gain a level of confidence in herself that would come from within her, as opposed to us cajoling that confidence out of her.

What would you tell other parents about the overall value of sending kids to Appleby College Summer Programs?

Punit

Honestly, for us it was tremendous value. It felt like we accelerated a lot of the learning that we wanted her to go through. She’s at the age where we always encourage her to do more and more independently.

A camp like this, where she’s essentially doing everything for herself throughout the week and getting herself ready, is a way to accelerate that independence. At home, even though she knows how to do everything, because Mom and Dad are home, she tends to rely on us.

We’re here, obviously, in terms of providing support if something were to happen, but we’re not there physically with you. So you need to be independent and take care of yourself. You know how to do all these things. Have confidence that you know how to do all these things.

We felt that this was the best way to put her in an environment that’s safe but, at the same time, will push her to do things that she’s not comfortable with.

What does your child say about Appleby College Summer Programs?

Anjlee

The biggest endorsement for the camp is that she wants to go back. So I’m sure she’ll be returning.

After we picked up our daughter from Appleby College Summer Programs, we actually went on a 10-hour road trip, so we got to hear a lot about camp, and she really had nothing but good things to say. She did tons of play-by-play, so it created a lot of fodder because she wasn’t used to being away from us for that long.

You could just tell in the way that she was retelling stories and giggling about things that happened that it was a really good experience for her. She really took to a lot of the counselors who were there. So that was really nice to hear.

Punit

She had the confidence to make friends. She knew her best friend was going to be there, so there was always this anchor of support. There was always going to be someone to rely on. But as soon as we picked her up, she was excited to tell us about and introduce us to her new friend whom she had met.

Some of the other campers were not local. In her particular case, she met somebody who lived in the United States and, before that, came from South America. And so it gave her a tremendous amount of background about what it’s like to live in a different place. All of a sudden, she felt excited that she had a friend who didn’t even live in Canada anymore, and they’re keeping in touch.

She was really excited about building that network, building that skill of how to make connections and have a conversation with somebody, and even what she needed to do after camp to maintain that friendship.

Any final thoughts on Appleby College Summer Programs?

Anjlee

One thing that helped us feel really comfortable with this overnight experience was the fact that it was on the Oakville campus. Appleby College now has a northern location, but living close by made us feel more comfortable that if anything went wrong—and nothing did—we were not even 10 minutes away. So there’s an element of comfort that comes with knowing that.

Even though she was really close to home, she didn’t feel like she was close to home because she was out on a lake boating and doing all the things you would do at a northern camp, but with the comfort, for me anyway, of being really close to home.

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