The Experience
Adventures of the Mind was often referred to as a mentoring summit because of the high ratio of mentors to students.
Welcome to Adventures of the Mind Achievement & Leadership Mentoring Camp! Our mission has been to engage excellence – beginning with the all-star faculty of Mentors and fellow campers – and inspired students to expand their horizons and fulfill their potential.
Adventures was a different kind of summer camp — one that helped students explore their future, including career paths that stoked their intellectual and creative passions. To help students focus on this important goal we offer an online financial capability course and assessment.
Successful completion of Take On Money proves to the world that you have obtained an adult level understanding of personal finance and know how to keep a budget. This course is provided at no cost to all applicants and is available even if not accepted into Adventures.
To be accepted into the program was to achieve de facto national recognition given the in-depth nature of the selection process, world class stature of the mentors, and the intellectual rigor of the program.
At our most recent camp at Rosemont College near Philadelphia in August 2015, more than 100 talented teens met dozens of adult achievers at the top of their respective fields, attended a college fair on the Penn campus and went behind the scenes at the National Constitution Center’s Museum of We the People. We also explored the Constitutional Walking Tour of Philadelphia following Thomas Jefferson’s footsteps to Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.
Students investigated one of the major societal shifts shaping their future: Now that technology has made information instantly accessible, what students know is not as important as what they do with it! As a result, young people need to think critically, collaborate effectively, and communicate persuasively. As students explored these skills, they had at their sides an all-star faculty of mentors: tech entrepreneurs and Pulitzer prizewinning writers, astronauts and archeologists, Nobel-winning scientists and public servants, many of whom are also professors from leading universities.
In seminars, workshops and informal gatherings, these Mentors shared their own triumphs, setbacks, and lessons learned, with the goal of inspiring and better preparing the next generation of thinkers and leaders. And we have seen how these messages are taken to heart. A student who attended our Los Angeles camp shared her experience with us:
“I was introduced to many versions of success at Adventures. What I took from hearing everyone speak to us was a respect for variation (genetic and otherwise). Now true success means something different to me. While it could mean being well paid and well liked, I find that my interpretation of success is different than others. So why follow indifferently down their paths, when I can blaze down my own?”
Julia Fong, ’14 Tan Scholar
Marymount High School Class of ’16
Every student accepted to participate was personally nominated by an educator who knew them and believed he or she has the potential to succeed – regardless of grades or test scores. The result was an incredible mix of talented teens from across the nation who planned to attend a top ranked college.
Educators from across the nation nominated students they believed who, with guidance and nurture, could maximize their potential and make important contributions to society. Leadership potential is important so we asked nominators to give special consideration to students who made the time and effort to lead – whether in academics, athletics, community organizations, or after-school clubs.
97% of our eligible high school students were attending or have completed college and two have even received the highest award given to a college senior: the Hertz Fellowship. Adventures Alum Michael Li ’03 also received the Marshall Scholarship.
Step 1
Complete Application for admission.
Step 2
Your Educator submits a nomination and a letter of recommendation on your behalf.
Step 3
Acceptance notice within 30 days of receiving educator nomination and letter.