Transcript of our interview with Stephanie, Mother

What were you looking for when searching for camps?

My husband is an engineer. He went to Queens. We both went to Queens. He's always touted engineering, and all of our kids have been good in math and physics. When I saw it advertised I thought, that's the perfect camp to send my kid! Then he can get a taste for different disciplines and come out of it knowing what they wanted to do. So we signed up, and he went and loved it.

So then my two other sons ended up doing the same thing.

What would you highlight about QSEA's programming, teachers, or curriculum, and what can you tell us about that?

I don't really know anything about the teachers other than what I've heard from the kids. They really loved doing the projects. Our three boys all went through the camp. Two of the three didn't go to Queens, but the middle one is at Queens. He's in third-year engineering. 

And he told us, “When I started my first year at Queens in engineering, I walked into the lab, and it was like some of our first-year labs, we did modified versions of what he did at camp two years earlier! He was familiar with the labs. They got a taste of the different labs at Queens, and he had seen a lot of it already, so we love that!

What do your children like best or find most exciting about QSEA?

They liked doing the labs and the projects. My one son did welding. And he says, to this day, “It was the most fun.” In another one, they were doing bridge building. Those projects were fun for them. I think they were modified versions of what they later did in first-year engineering. The welding part of it stood out, something that they would never have had experience with elsewhere. Now, none of them went into welding or that type of engineering, but they just [enjoyed] the different projects. The labs were pretty fun.

How and when did you know that QSEA was the right fit for your children?

I was at Queens. We all went to Queens. We had family there. 

It looked like it covered what we wanted. We thought it would help them understand engineering better. As soon as I read about it, I knew it was a good fit, because when they talked about engineering, they wondered, “How would we know which discipline we like the best?”  

Queens does have an advantage over other universities when [it comes to] university and engineering. One reason why my one son chose Queens is that they can do a general first year at Queens. That also helps them determine what discipline they want to be in. A lot of schools, especially in the US, don't allow you to do that. You have to decide before going in. So, given the fact that we live in California, and they were applying to US schools as well as Canadian schools, if they ended up at a school where they had to pick right out of the gate, I wanted them to have some exposure to engineering ahead of time.

Was there any change or noticeable personal growth you saw in your children after time at camp?

Coming out of it, they had a better sense of what engineering is and a better perspective of what discipline they might choose a year later when they were applying for university.

If you hadn't sent your children to this camp, what's the most important personal growth that they would've missed out on?

Well, I'm dealing with it now with my daughter who didn't get to go, right? She says, “I wish that I could have gone to the camp.” She's having to apply for engineering. She's more guessing at some things, because in some schools, you have to specify a discipline. At Queens, you don't. 

So she doesn't have as much confidence about really wanting biotech, or whatever it is that she's putting down? She just hasn't had exposure to what engineering really is.

How can a parent support their child to get the most out of this camp?

Signing them up for one. [Laughs]

If you send them, the majority of people who do go there stay overnight. That willingness to be able to go and be away from home for two weeks (or however long the camps are now). The camp my boys were in was a two-week camp. The support is signing them up and letting them go.

How would you describe this camp to another parent?

If a child is interested in engineering or has an affinity for math and chemistry or physics, it's a really good means of getting them exposure to the various disciplines. Within engineering, they had even elements of entrepreneurship and things that are a bit above and beyond the engineering space. 

The biggest selling point is having a cross reference of all the different disciplines and getting some exposure to that ahead of time, for that child who has to apply, within a year, to university.

What do your children say about the camp, either to you or to others?

They loved the camp.

I had three kids go. The first one went through, really enjoyed it, loved it. The other two just followed suit and also loved it. My fourth child, my daughter, looked forward to going and was very disappointed when COVID happened, so she didn't get to go. 

But the older ones loved it. They came back talking about it and really enjoyed the projects and labs that they did, and just everything about it.