Amy Lynne Shelton has been with the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) for 13 years and has served as executive director for the last three. The nonprofit’s summer camps—taught by Johns Hopkins professors and other renowned academics and subject matter experts—attract bright young people from all over the world, who spend their summer days immersed in such topics as robotics, engineering and language arts.
It can be challenging, but it’s also just a good time.
“A lot of times parents come to us looking for that academic piece, but what they walk away with is that their kids made friends and had fun,” says Shelton. “That’s our sweet spot. It’s absolutely hard work, but it’s hard work for kids who thrive on that kind of hard work. And when you bring kids together around something they enjoy, they generate enthusiasm.”
Students at CTY aren’t slouched in seats, passively absorbing information from a teacher delivering a monologue. They’re not preparing for tests. Instead, they are working together to research, create and problem solve, with the teacher serving as facilitator.
The camp attracts some 4,000 participants each summer, about 20 percent international, in grades two and up. To qualify, students must submit test scores and transcripts.
The program has 11 sites nationwide. Students in grades two through eight can participate in three-week day or residential programs, while those in grades five through 12 live at Johns Hopkins University or other college campuses throughout the U.S. There are also remote and hybrid learning opportunities.
Here in the Baltimore region, young people who want to stretch their minds over the summer have a wealth of opportunities to create, learn and discover in summer camps that focus on academic exploration. That’s partly because the region has so many excellent colleges, universities and independent schools that offer summer programming.
One such independent school is the Highlands School in Bel Air, which has a five-week summer camp called Mind Jump, for students in kindergarten through grade seven.
Mind Jump focuses on reading comprehension, phonics and math in structured classes that are grouped by ability. With just three students per instructor, lessons are tailored to each camper’s learning style, says Head of School Claudia Nachtigal, who was named best principal in the 2025 Best of Harford poll, with Highlands topping the list as best private school.
Many campers have either struggled with a topic or know it will be a challenging new academic year. “We have a lot of kids with ADHD, and the way we do phonics, math and comprehension is extremely helpful,” Nachtigal says. “The teachers are our Highlands School teachers. They are both specialized and certified. Our goal is to prevent summer learning loss but also to accelerate where students are.”
The camp runs from 8:30 a.m. until noon, and campers can then continue their day with lunch and afternoon camps that center on sports, gardening, art or other activities.
The K-12 Jemicy School also offers full-day and half-day summer programs for children with dyslexia or related language-based learning differences. These programs aim to minimize summer learning loss while combining education with recreation, creativity and fun, says Andrea Seurkamp, education director of Summer at Jemicy (and Lower and Middle School Skills Department chair during the school year).
The program for lower school students features small group literacy instruction, with two to four kids per teacher, as well as sessions on language arts, math and science-based adventures that take place on the school’s wooded campus.
The middle school program has a structured writing class, math support and a session that focuses on improving executive function. The afternoon has non-academic options like art and gym.
Jemicy teachers lead most of the programs, but only about 20% of participants are Jemicy students, Seurkamp says. “There’s an application process, and we meet with families ahead of time and do a placement screening to group the kids appropriately,” she says.
Another option for students with learning differences is the four-week summer camp offered by Baltimore Lab School (BLS), which serves bright and motivated students in grades one through 12 who have ADHD and/or learning differences such as dyslexia. The camp, which offers educational and creative activities that help participants develop skills and confidence, is open to both current BLS students and students from other area schools who might benefit from additional support over the summer.
Campers in rising grades one through six take part in small-group instruction, cooking activities and academic clubs. Middle schoolers use outdoor education and technology to develop skills in reading, writing and math, as well as executive function. High school-aged campers build public speaking and problem-solving skills.
Many local colleges also offer summer camps with a focus on learning.
For high school-aged campers with an interest in creative writing, Goucher College offers a week-long Young Writers’ Camp with workshops and seminars led by accomplished authors and editors. The group of 30 to 40 campers end the week with a reading of their works, and an anthology that they design, which is published and mailed to them later in the summer.
The Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC) has summer programs for campers aged seven to 17 on a broad range of subjects, including coding, game design, acting, robotics and music. A Career Pathways series, launched in 2025, offers weeklong courses that help teens explore specific professions and skilled trades through sessions and activities led by experts in those fields. This year, the program will be expanded to include nursing, law and logistics. “These courses are designed to be both fun and transformative, giving young people a meaningful glimpse into their future career paths,” says John Delozier, director of life enrichment for CCBC youth programs.
Howard Community College’s Kids on Campus began 40 years ago with 15 offerings and now has more than 250 summer programs for ages six to 17, says Denise Smith, marketing manager for the college’s Division of Workforce, Career, and Community Education.
Topics for Kids on Campus summer enrichment programs include robotics, culinary arts (in the college’s state-of-the-art kitchen), coding, Scales and Tails(with real reptiles), Hooked on Crochet, American sign language, and Drumming Dragons, which culminates in a percussion performance for families and friends.
Kids on Campus offers both one-week and two-week sessions, with the option to combine morning and afternoon sessions for a full day. Sessions are led by certified teachers and industry experts, Smith says. “The kids are learning while they’re having fun,” she says. “They are engaged and they are really creating and learning.”
High school-aged campers interested in engineering may wish to consider the Engineering Innovation Pre-College Programs— college-level engineering classes provided by the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins.
EI offers four pre-college programs:
• Explore Engineering Innovation (in-person residential or commuter, online, hybrid)
• Biomedical Engineering Innovation (online)
• Sustainable Energy Engineering (in-person residential or commuter, and online)
• Introduction to Python (online)
The flagship Explore Engineering Innovation, launched in 2006, is available at multiple locations in the Baltimore-Washington, DC region, and attracts students from across the globe. In this synchronous program, campers learn about a variety of engineering fields—like civil, chemical, mechanical, electrical, computer engineering and materials science—and they can earn three college credits from Johns Hopkins University.
“Each of our pre-college programs offers high school students a rigorous engineering course and an opportunity to learn to navigate a college-level curriculum while they are in high school,” said EJ Shatto, who handles marketing and recruitment. “Students collaborate in teams and experiment with new ideas, materials and topics, as they build connections with each other in and out of class.”
She also notes that students are empowered to dive in, ask questions, and learn from each other. “They learn a lot about communication,” she says. “They gain confidence in their ability to think critically and to problem solve. They look at problems from different angles and learn to seek out different viewpoints. And they have a lot of fun being in a space with other kids who are just as interested as they are. It really builds confidence.”
This article is part of our 2026 Guide to Summer Camps.
