Photos by Travis Long - tlong@newsobserver.com
Instructor Eli Perkins demonstrates strings of code for iPhone application development during an iD Tech Camp at UNC-Chapel Hill. The camp is one of seven one-week sessions for children ages 7 to 17.
Chapel Hill -- In this summer camp, rock climbing isn't half as cool as creating a video game about rock climbing.
In a dimmed room where rows of computers replace ropes courses, campers - mostly boys - speak in programming language and make rampant jokes about Macs and PCs. Forget about swimming or building campfires, they spend intensive hours learning how to create iPhone apps, designing video games, and enjoying the camaraderie of fellow gamers.
"It's a fun way to prepare you going into the industry," said Ed Rayburn, 16, of Winston-Salem. "You don't have to be a nerd."
Technology-driven summer camps are growing in interest and size; iD Camps, a California company that runs the program in Chapel Hill, says it has gained 2,000 new campers this summer, boosting its overall enrollment to 20,000 nationally. The company rents classrooms on college campuses, such as Harvard, MIT and UNC-Chapel Hill.
The weeklong camp is not cheap. It costs $1,300 for students who stay overnight and $800 for day students. But parents say they are willing to pay the whopping prices to see their children gain cutting-edge technology skills instead of sleeping away their summer.
This is the fifth summer Amy Rayburn has sent her son to the camp. This year, she spent nearly $3,000 to let him attend two weeks in a row.
"It really is worth it," she said. "It gives him an academic and intellectual way of channeling his interest."
When the company started 13 years ago, technology summer camps were not common. Now, there is a niche for them, said Karen Thurm Safran, the company's vice president of marketing. The iPhone app class, for example, is in high demand, she said.
Cary Academy, a private school for grades 6-12 in Cary, has seen its science and technology summer camps increase in popularity as well. Its weeklong video game programming camp is so popular that all four sessions are full, said Stephanie Dungan, the school's summer camp director.
To meet the growing interest in video game programming and 3-D animation, the academy, which offers 260 different kinds of summer camps, has increased its technology section by 20 percent.
The school charges $355 a week per student for its day camp.
Ed Rayburn said the iD camp is the highlight of his year. The best part of the experience, he said, is that he is among those who are well-versed in gaming culture, such as a new friend he made this year, Phil Dickerson, 17, of Elizabethtown.
"It's like being in a school where everyone is friends," said Rayburn, who wants to return as a camp counselor.
Rayburn and Dickerson say the camp is a mixture of freedom and guidance; they can let their creativity run wild and receive help from well-qualified counselors.
Dickerson said he was introverted before coming to the camp, but has rapidly gained skill and confidence.
In a lab named Azeroth - a name from the "World of Warcraft" - they create and design their own computer games, learning Java, C++, and web design.
It took some of campers one day to come up with an iPhone app such as Angry Birds.
Aspired to become the next Mark Zuckerberg, Mohammed Khouni, 14, flew from Austria by himself to enroll in the camp.
This was his first time visiting America, and Khouni said he was worried at first that he would have culture shock. But the shared knowledge and passion for gaming and technology among campers has bridged the cultural differences, he said. He felt connected and understood right away.
"It's a great feeling," Khouni said.
The joke among the campers is that if people make fun of you for being a nerd, fear not - "They will be working for you someday," Rayburn said.
