Canoeing and horseback riding are sooo last century. Camp this summer was all about C++ programming, forensic science, and Renaissance-era role-playing. If your little genius missed out (sigh), there's always next year. - Suzanne Wu
1. GRIFFLET ADVENTURE QUEST DAY CAMP
Theme: Role-playing at a Renaissance-themed camp in Boulder, Colorado. Cost: $240 per week
Instead of sailing: The 6- to 8-year-olds must "band together to protect their village" with cardboard swords. Character options include Elf, Faerie, Centaur, and the always popular Monkeroo.
2. Woot!C@mp
Theme: Kids ages 7 to 16 pack off to a prestigious university like Stanford or Duke to spend five days playing Half-Life 2 in a stuffy computer lab. Cost: $499
Instead of horseback riding: RPG strategy discussions and a one-hour break to "put on shades and go out into the light."
3. Science Fiction Teen Arts Workshop
Theme: A five-day workshop aimed at Ray Bradbury freaks - who are also students in grades 8 through 11 - at the Science Fiction Museum in Seattle. Cost: $315
Instead of canoeing: Campers play in a virtual reality lab, hatch a sci-fi idea, and then realize it as a comic book, videogame, or play.
4. Girls Go Tech Leadership Institute: Xtreme Science Careers
Theme: Immersion in engineering, space science, and criminal forensics for 24 superstar Girl Scouts from across the US, in Briarcliff Manor, New York. Cost: $100
Instead of singing "Kumbayah": Teams design a utopian community on Mars.
5. DigiPen Institute of Technology
Theme: A two-week crash course on 3-D animation for high schoolers in Seattle. Cost: $845
Instead of hiking: Campers learn to create realistic facial movement and use inverse kinematics.
6. CSI: AMSE
Theme: A five-day, as-seen-on-TV romp through the glamorous world of crime-scene investigation at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Cost: $70
Instead of lanyard tying: Ten-year-olds use fingerprinting, pH tests, powder tests, and hair analysis to solve a mystery.
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Cruising at 12,666 Miles Per Gallon
What I Did at Geek Camp
