There’s camp, and then there’s Culver. What’s the difference? Sarah Lauzen, a summer camps mother of 13 consecutive years, put it this way, “Our four sons agree that the best gift we have ever given them is Culver Summer Schools & Camps. Where else can young men and women make lifelong friends while learning that competition is fun and challenges are exciting… all at an amazing campus with friends from around the world?”

Culver Summer Schools & Camps offer young people 9 to 17 the opportunity to enjoy the most remarkable and memorable summer of their lives. Culver is structured to help boys and girls receive the encouragement to try things about which they’ve only dreamed and develop and value self-discipline. They learn to overcome self-imposed limitations, to improve skills, and when it’s really important to them, how to push for their personal best.

“Culver creates the right mixture of academics, athletics and recreation to promote the well-rounded development of young adults. Culver helps to build character, the kind of character that helps an adult deal with both success and travails of modern life.” — Evan Bayh ’69, Former Governor and now Senator of Indiana.

A Culver summer is an opportunity for fun, friendship, and a chance to learn about leadership skills that build confidence for a lifetime. Unlike ordinary summer camps, Culver provides a strong focus on the development of leadership skills – an approach that instills courtesy, personal organization, and the ability to make well thought-out choices.

For 100 years, parents of Culver campers have remarked that their children return from camp with a greater ability to cooperate and interact with others to achieve not only their own goals, but family and group goals as well. Does the program work? No one can answer that better than Culver Summer Schools & Camps alumnus and former Governor of Oklahoma Frank Keating: “Culver is the only program I know of to give major responsibility – an adult sense of achievement and liability – to one as young as fifteen. Its impact on me was enormous and was central to whatever success I have enjoyed.”

The Culver Parents Experience