Quantum U is an 8-day college summer camp that specializes in giving high school graduates and current college students the skills they need to have a successful college career. One important life skill that Quantum U emphasizes is communication.
In an environment of emotional safety, like at home, it is easier for teens to communicate their feelings with others. They can experiment and practice in such an environment because they know it's okay and that they will be accepted.
When students leave home and enter college, they lose that safe environment they’ve been accustomed to for so long. With the uncertainty of new surroundings, new college students often struggle to communicate with the people around them, in fear that they will be rejected or misunderstood.
At the Quantum U summer program, team-building activities are weaved in throughout the day. Every morning before breakfast, campers sing special team cheers for the facilitators. Music and rhythm are powerful aids to bonding. When campers learn how great it feels to reach out and connect with others, they automatically begin to think further beyond themselves than they did before.
A few days into camp, when the trust level is high, campers are divided into groups of four and are asked a series of questions about their inner dreams. Team Leaders are very aware of their trust levels, and each question in the series moves a little deeper on the trust gradient. With each answer, students venture a little further out of their comfort zones. After they've spent a few minutes sharing, a Team Leader asks them, "How does it feel to share those dreams with someone?"
Since the process of getting there is gradual, the teens often don't realize until this point how brave they're being. Their reaction is typically, "Wow! I'd never imagined I could do this!" Most of them say it feels great - scary, but great. Yet, just a few days earlier many of them could not have done it at all!
At this point they've spent several days in a place where they're accepted for who they are. They know that if they speak they'll be heard. It still makes them feel vulnerable to tell something so personal to people they just met days before. But it's a lot easier for them to step out of their comfort zones when they know they won't be laughed at, belittled, put down, or judged.
Quantum U is held this summer from July 14 through 21 at
