Stateside Adventures Ltd

The third annual China Camp Education Conference (CCEC) has recently come to an end. The CCEC is hosted by the China Camp Education Alliance, a grassroots non-profit looking to set standards for Camp in China, organize research and to connect Camp leaders for a stronger and more organized Camp industry in the greater China region. Stateside, among 9 other organizations are co-founders of this association and are dedicated to the development of Camp for the future.

Stateside co-founders, Josh Lee & Marco Reyes ran two workshops, "Camp Building and Management," and "Running a Successful Overseas (Traditional Camp) Program", respectively, offering insiders advice on how to run quality programs in China at an international standard.

In attendance were Deputy Mayor of Beidaihe region, Tian Jinchang, CEO of the American Camp Association, Tom Rosenberg, among many other distinguished guests.

Was a blast! And we invite you all to join next year!

http://www.cceacamps.org/ To learn more about the CCEA, click here.

Summer 2017 has come to an end. China's purest American style camps, Camp Greenwoods (Hangzhou & Shanghai locations) are resting quietly until the upcoming October 1st holiday camp! Camp Greenwoods, Beijing is in the works!

If looking to work in China, or find your China Camp home, consult and join us!

A few Stateside campers rocking it at Camp. More to come as the summer enters its last month.

*Scott Arizala Comes to China!*

Scott! We were so happy to receive you for your first visit & camp training in the People's Republic of China! What an honor it was to work together, and know you've contributed to the development of the camping world in China!

On April 14-16th, 2017, The Camp Counselor Scott Arizala offered a weekend of his expertise in training a diverse group of camp owners, directors, and enthusiasts on the nuts and bolts of Camp, leadership, and staff training. Hosted by us here at Stateside Adventures (Camp Greenwoods aka You Mei Camp Education) and CCEA (China Camp Education Alliance), on our beautiful camp property in Qiandaohu, China!

We encourage more camp leaders to consider taking the dive into China, as many more are hoping to obtain more knowledge in camp. Come join the early development stages of Camp! Be a pioneer!

-Stateside Staff

*Industry Insight* - What types of Schools exist in China?

Due to falling numbers of expat communities in China, international schools are opening their doors to newer arrangements allowing Chinese citizens to enroll as students. For years, international schools were limited to foreign passport holders as government restrictions wished to contain foreign curriculums outside of the Chinese education system. Either regulations have loosened or loopholes have been found, resulting in a high influx of Chinese students in international school populations.

Schools in China can be split into various categories:

Pure Public - The commonly perceived public school as seen in western media, a sea of students vigorously studying to pass their examinations. If lucky have a foreign English teacher. Administration is highly conservative / traditional.

Public w/ International Departments - Public schools with some foreign teachers to instruct IB, Honors or other, with hopes of attending institutions outside of China in the future. Administration still being very traditional.

(Chinese) International - Perhaps the fastest growing type of school in China, Not quite sanctioned by the board of international schools, governed by the Chinese, yet half of its teacher staff are foreign. Subjects taught in both English & Chinese, or sometimes all English. Quality of education here is questionable, yet is a result of the demand for foreign education for those who cannot obtain an international passport. Administration still sees characteristics of Chinese bureaucracy

Pure International - Originally created for the expat communities in China: children of business people, diplomats and more. Makeup of school also becoming increasingly Chinese due to aforementioned factors.

-Stateside Adventures

Note: The above report is on-the-ground insight in the viewpoint of Stateside Adventures.

Stateside Adventures are now Camp Owners! After a successful summer and a 1 week National October Holiday camp, is going strong!

Thank you to all who inspired us in our years as camp people. We finally made it!

Camp Director, and co-owner, Mike Lewis guides us into the newest chapter of Chinese education...Camp Education!

Always interested in bringing experienced Camp people to our team. Feel free to get in touch with us if looking for a China Camp Experience, but with pure North American characteristics!

Camp is here! Our Chinese Campers are currently living the life at Camp Weequahic , Camp Tawingo , Camp Wenonah , Maine Teen Camp (MTC) - The Official Camp Page, and YMCA Camp Woodstock ! More to come! Thanks so much to you all for opening your communities to our campers and staff!

Not summer time? No worries. Let's hop over to Australia for a Winter (Summer) Family Camp. Love seeing our families working together, bonding, while experiencing foreign cultures and more importantly, the great outdoors! Thanks UC Camping !

Hi Friends of Stateside Adventures!

Below is a video of our co-founder, Marco Reyes, speaking on his camp story!

PS - It's in Chinese though!

China Trends:

In China, Chinese families new to Camp begin planning their summers during the Chinese New Year (Spring Festival):

-For companies, this is a week long holiday from Feb 7 - 14th:
-For public schools this is from the end of January to Feb 22nd
-For bilingual schools (US/UK curriculum, but Chinese governed) this is from beginning of February to Feb 22nd
-For international schools (foreign governed) is one week from 8th - 12th (or so)

Do Chinese children attend international schools? Yes. Typically regulations require at least one parent to be a foreign passport holder (Hong Kong, New Zealand, Canadian, and some US is what you generally see). Or, the child must be born outside of China with a foreign passport. Trends are showing increasing numbers of Chinese families of well-to-do backgrounds gaining access to international school education, many of which are looking for Traditional Camp programs to further their aims of later matriculating into US/UK/Canadian boarding schools and later universities.

We have growing interest from families of younger children attending international schools, with strong presences from bilingual & public school children.

To learn more about education/lifestyle/economic trends in China, feel free to contact your China Camp experts: Stateside Adventures.

http://v.qq.com/boke/page/n/0/f/n0179mm2n8f.html

v.qq.com

Why do we host pre-Camp training? (Besides that it's super fun??) Well, because we love to, and the parents and campers do, too!

The Stateside Adventures pre-Camp training is a chance for our staff to work with our campers before you do! Some good old Camp games and ice breakers segue into an understanding of the wholesome community Camp builds. Also a good chance for us to finally work with our Camp parents face to face in covering the ABCs of Camp communication policies, expectations and solutions to common Camp hiccups.

Take a look at these series of groups that came in and out of our highly serviced pre-camp training. From bus pick ups, to basketball coaches, Camp games to Gala dinners, we show our families a great time!

As we look outside our office into the hazy (yet surprisingly blue lately) Beijing sky, we are forced to sigh as Camp has come to an end. We cannot be more grateful to our partner camps of Summer 2015, to the counselors who cared for them, the nurses who suddenly became Chinese language experts in diagnosis for sore throats, the office staff who transferred our campers' letters home, the Directors who acted as foot soldiers in helping our campers acclimate. Every single person has made our Chinese campers' experience the absolute best one, one could hope for. Thank you all!

Stateside Adventures invites you to the China Camp Education Conference post-conference After Party @ Jing-A Brewing Co. !