We’re entering what would normally be the long-awaited reprieve of summer—a time to write, think, travel, to escape the demands of the academic year. But this will not be a normal summer.
Faculty may long for a break, but the government is actively operationalizing Project 2025, a blueprint for remaking every public institution, with higher education being the crown jewel of its antidemocratic agenda. At his 100-day rally in Michigan, Donald Trump declared, “We’ve just gotten started. You haven’t even seen anything yet.” Christopher Rufo, architect of the right-wing culture war, promises to plunge higher education still further into “an existential terror.”
We recommend mobilizing on two simultaneous fronts this summer: by operationalizing mutual academic defense compacts (MADCs), and through direct activism. We must forge powerful alliances for mass protest. We suggest one often-overlooked but deeply strategic constituency— veterans.
Recent opinion polls show that most Americans oppose the Trump administration’s approach to higher education. This public sentiment gives us a crucial opening—and we must seize the momentum as we move into summer.
Mobilize and Form Unlikely Alliances
Faculty can take simple, student-centered actions this summer—sharing stories of student impact over social media using #DegreesForDemocracy, or highlighting the real-world outcomes of their teaching and research with #WhatWeBuild—to demonstrate the value of higher education and help galvanize public support. Op-eds and blog posts that highlight how higher ed strengthens local communities, drives economic growth and improves American public health and well-being are also powerful tools.
In addition, faculty must begin to mobilize on the streets for mass peaceful protest. This will require reaching beyond our usual circles and forming big-tent coalitions. Now is not the time for ideological purity or partisan hesitation. The threat we face at this point goes beyond conventional liberal-versus-conservative disagreement; it is an attack on democratic institutions, civil liberties and public education itself.
One particularly powerful, and perhaps surprising, potential partner in this moment is the veteran community. As a start, we urge faculty to consider aligning with veterans this Friday for the June 6 D-Day anniversary protest: Veterans Stand Against Fascism Nationwide at the National Mall, as well as at more than 100 other venues across the country. This is a great way for higher ed to show up in the lead-up to the June 14 No Kings Day protests.
Why Join With Veterans?
The shared legacy of the GI Bill links veterans and higher education. A public alliance with veterans has the potential to lend more political credibility to faculty and foster broader public empathy that will disrupt the Trump administration’s strategy of divide and conquer.
From Black WWII veterans who catalyzed the civil rights movement to anti–Vietnam War resistance, veterans have consistently served on the front lines of social change. Today, they are standing up to deep budget cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs; the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives; and dangerous reductions to the veteran workforce—issues that mirror the assaults on higher education.
Professors and veterans are natural allies in more ways than many realize. Since the passage of the GI Bill in 1944, millions of veterans have earned college degrees and experienced upward mobility through higher education. Veterans are a protected class under antidiscrimination law and recipients of DEI programming. The veterans’ centers and services we have created to support them are now under threat from the Trump administration’s ideological dismantling of DEI. While trust in most American institutions—including higher education—has declined, polling shows that the military remains one of the few institutions still trusted by a majority of Americans. This trust is rooted in the military’s demographic breadth: Its members come from every region, ethnicity, income bracket and political background.
In contrast, higher education suffers from an image problem—often caricatured as elite, out of touch and overly partisan. Yet many of the most trusted professionals in society—nurses, teachers, first responders, small business owners and veterans themselves—were trained and mentored in our classrooms. Building visible alliances with veterans can help reshape public perceptions of academia, challenging the dominant narratives that seek to isolate and delegitimize higher education.
Operationalize Mutual Academic Defense Compacts
While public protest builds pressure, cross-institutional coalition building creates networks for effective resistance. Faculty and university senates across the country are approving mutual academic defense compact resolutions, which call for universities to join in shared defense of any participating institution that comes under government attack. But this is just the beginning. We need more, and these resolutions need to be operationalized through the creation of MADC task forces of administrators and faculty on as many campuses as possible. Presidents and chancellors need to endorse both the compacts and the task forces.
We must use this summer to refine model MADC resolution language to align with institutional legal and financial requirements, to prepare for the passage of resolutions and creation of MADC task forces in the early fall, and to build the infrastructure that will allow these coalitions to function as coordinated networks of protection, resistance and shared strategy.
We’ve been struck by how many faculty members lack formal structures for self-governance on their campuses. Shared governance is a foundational pillar of academic freedom—though often overshadowed by the more visible right to pursue scholarship free from interference. We’re working with campuses to strengthen existing faculty governance organizations with the establishment of Stand Together groups, and where none exist, we’re helping to establish American Association of University Professors and other advocacy chapters to fill that crucial gap.
This summer, we must think strategically—and expansively. This summer calls for alliance building across our sister institutions of higher ed and across diverse nonacademic interest groups. The stakes are nothing less than the future of democracy.
Jennifer Lundquist is a professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.Kathy Roberts Forde is a professor of journalism at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.Together, the authors co-foundedStand Together for Higher Ed.
Perhaps you just haven’t had time to keep up with the advent of agentic AI. Or you simply didn’t realize that AI is not just a fad in higher education; rather, it is our best hope to survive the pervasive budget cuts and dropping enrollments. Or, perhaps based on your look at AI tools in 2023, you found them too unreliable and subject to hallucinations to take them seriously. Here’s hoping that this summer provides you a bit of time spread across the season to catch up with the technology and begin the fall term with the knowledge and experience to make AI the best professional assistant you have ever had.
Instead of facing a stack of projects and problems alone, you will have a Ph.D.-knowledge virtual assistant working at speeds far exceeding human thought:
“According to OpenAI, o3 earned a record-breaking score on the ARC-AGI visual reasoning benchmark, reaching 87.5 percent in high-compute testing—comparable to human performance at an 85 percent threshold. The model also scored 96.7 percent on the 2024 American Invitational Mathematics Exam, missing just one question, and reached 87.7 percent on GPQA Diamond, which contains graduate-level biology, physics, and chemistry questions.”
These assistants work 24-7, without vacation or holiday breaks. At the end of long day of work, you can pose complex problems to an advanced deep research model and it will conduct research, compose a detailed report, and prepare follow-up questions while you are eating dinner (I have experienced this myself; reading the results over dessert is so much more satisfying). I have also awakened in the early hours of a Sunday morning with a great idea to pursue for work. I tapped it in directly to one of the advanced models and awakened to a 20-plus-page report complete with comprehensive citations and suggestions for further research later that morning.
AI developers have made great strides in avoiding hallucinations and off-target results. Among the improvements are the utilization of retrieval-augmented generation, a natural-language processing technique that taps an expansive database to “enhance the context and accuracy of generated text.” Those who may have stopped using AI because of errors of the past will be surprised to see the far more consistent and accurate results of today. Despite these improvements, I continue to recommend that users submit nearly identical prompts to two or three of the leading models of AI. Although my motivation for that recommendation primarily is that you are likely to gain additional, useful information from the added results.
Today, most of the leading models provide multimodel features that can input, process and output various types of data beyond text, such as images, audio and video. This enables engaging the prompter via voice communication. It supports the generation of stunning images and rather brief video segments. Google’s Notebook LM tool accepts input documents and related media about which it can create a podcast, allow listeners to ask questions and get audio responses, create crossword puzzles based on your lecture notes, and even create virtual debates.
The tools I most commonly use are those from OpenAI, particularly o3; those from Google, particularly Gemini 2.0 Flash for general work and Gemini 2.5 Pro for detailed research; and Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet. However, there are many more models available today that may better meet your needs or preferences. One of the projects I have been pursuing lately is tracking research, new treatments and other emerging information about a particular disease. I am using Gemini 2.5 Pro and ChatGPT o3, running updates every week. The results have been comprehensive and well cited. Notably, ChatGPT o3 noticed that I had been asking for reports every Tuesday and asked if I would like it to run the same prompt every Tuesday and email the results to me. Such an action could be considered elementary agentic AI, in which the tool can analyze needs, create a plan of action and with permissions take autonomous actions:
“Agentic AI is an AI system that acts autonomously, adapts in real time, and solves multi-step problems based on context and objectives. They are built of multiple AI agents that leverage large language models (LLMs) and complex reasoning. This enables them to have enhanced decision-making abilities and natural language understanding, facilitating more effective and intuitive user interactions.”
The power of AI agents is only beginning to be realized; 2025 has been dubbed the year of the agent. It is anticipated that millions of agents will be created by the end of the year. Their potential is enormous, reaching beyond the individual to take actions on behalf of a human.
So, how can you get on top of this AI trend this summer? Prompt engineering—asking questions in proper context, detail and format—is a good place to begin. You might consider enrolling in one of the many low-cost or free prompt engineering online classes. The Google Prompting Essentials course is $49 through Coursera. It takes just a few hours, and successful completion results in a certificate. There are also a number of YouTube videos that condense the contents of the microcourse. You may want to browse the Coursera catalog section on prompt engineering, which lists scores of classes from industry leaders, commercial vendors, colleges and universities that last from a few weeks to a few months in length. Many provide professional certificates.
I suggest you begin a course—many are self-paced—or one of the informal YouTube videos, then begin using the tools at every possible opportunity. Iterative prompting is the name of the game. Try reframing the prompt, providing additional information and including examples of what you are seeking for the tool to better understand your expectations.
Use your one or two chosen tools as often as possible. Ignore non-AI search tools for a while. You will notice that AI searching gets right to the best solutions rather than first listing the responses in order of those who paid for their place in the search response, as using Google to ask a question does.
Searching topics as they arise four or five times a day, refining each of those search prompts to better understand the capabilities of each tool, and searching across a wide variety of topics and disciplines will advance your expertise and comfort with AI. By the time classes begin in the fall, you will be prepared to save much time and effort by using AI. You will also be able to integrate AI into your daily routine, become more productive and share your expertise with your colleagues and students.
Marketing your summer camp successfully requires a well-rounded approach integrating digital strategies to maximize reach and engagement. With families and students searching online for the perfect summer experience, schools must stay ahead of the competition by adopting fresh, innovative methods.
This blog explores ten of the best summer camp marketing strategies to ensure your program stands out.
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1. Leverage Content Marketing to Build Trust and Authority
You’ve probably heard this before, but we’ll say it again: Content is king! One of the most effective ways to promote your summer camp is by creating blog posts, videos, and articles about the benefits of attending your camp. This helps engage prospective attendees and parents. Highlight success stories, showcase daily camp activities, and provide insights into what makes your program unique.
The first step to creating an effective summer content marketing campaign is choosing what platforms to use. You might be wondering, “Where can I promote my summer camp?” The best places include social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, as well as Google Ads and YouTube for targeted paid campaigns.
Local community websites, parenting blogs, and school newsletters are effective promotional channels. Focus on building credibility and encouraging trust among parents evaluating different options.
Example:Here is a simple way to garner interest in your summer camp program. Visual Arts Mississauga posts a video of the activities they provide, including studio and outdoor creative activities, a variety of themes (a new one each week), and special guests. Try filming a few brief snippets of your daily camp activities and list some of your campers’ favorite things about the experience. With minimal editing and some upbeat music, you can certainly catch the attention of a parent searching for a positive camp experience for their child. It worked for Visual Arts Mississauga!
As you can see in the comments, a parent inquired for pricing information. The great thing about social media platforms like TikTok? You can answer questions directly. Don’t forget to obtain permission from parents and campers before posting them.
Source: Visual Arts Mississauga | TikTok
2. Optimize Your Website for Search Engines
If your website isn’t optimized for search engines, you’re missing a significant number of potential campers. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) ensures that your summer camp appears when families search for programs online. By enhancing your site’s structure, improving page speed, and using long-tail keywords like “summer camp programs in (insert your location here),” you can improve visibility.
To further enhance visibility, you should optimize your summer camp program pages by structuring them with clear headings, engaging descriptions, and high-quality images of camp activities. Adding frequently asked questions (FAQs) to the page improves user experience and provides quick answers to common inquiries.
Internal linking to other relevant pages, such as registration forms or blog posts, boosts SEO by keeping visitors engaged. Additionally, integrating schema markup allows search engines to understand the content better, increasing the chances of appearing in featured snippets.
Example: This is what an FAQ section could look like on your camp landing page. Adding structured data to your FAQs increases the likelihood of appearing as a featured snippet on search engines. Be sure to use conversational language to optimize for voice search results. Don’t forget to leverage your FAQs for content planning. This is a great way to add value for site visitors – providing the answers they’re searching for in detail in more detail.
Source: Kustermans
3. Create a Strong Social Media Presence
Beyond posting regularly, an effective social media strategy involves using platform-specific features to maximize engagement. Instagram Stories and Reels allow you to share real-time updates, camper testimonials, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of camp life.
Facebook Groups can build a community of returning campers and interested parents, fostering discussion and sharing updates. TikTok offers a creative space to showcase fun camp activities through short, engaging videos that appeal to younger audiences.
Additionally, paid social media advertising is a great way to extend your reach. By running targeted ad campaigns on platforms like Facebook and Instagram, you can ensure your summer camp marketing efforts reach families actively looking for programs.
Geo-targeting and interest-based targeting allow you to refine your audience, ensuring your ads reach parents who are most likely to enroll their children. Running contests and giveaways on social media can also increase engagement and word-of-mouth promotion as parents and campers share your content with their networks.
Example:Here, Western University uses its active Facebook page to maintain a strong presence, notify parents of important dates, build anticipation for the summer, and show off all of the fun activities in store. Their page features consistent branding setting them apart from other school summer camps.
Source: Sport Western Summer Camp | Facebook
4. Utilize Email Marketing Campaigns
Email marketing remains a powerful tool for reaching prospective campers and their families. Sending out newsletters with enrolment updates, discounts, and testimonials keeps your audience informed and engaged.
An effective email marketing strategy involves segmentation, where prospective families are grouped based on their engagement levels, preferences, and past interactions. You can ensure that each recipient receives relevant messaging by tailoring content to different segments, such as new inquiries, returning campers, and families who haven’t yet completed registration.
Drip email campaigns are particularly valuable for nurturing leads. These automated sequences gradually provide information about your camp, from program details to testimonials, making it easier for parents to commit. Additionally, incorporating visually appealing emails with compelling subject lines improves open rates and engagement.
5. Targeted Digital Advertising Campaigns
Traditional advertising is still effective, relevant, and part of a well-rounded marketing campaign. “How do I advertise my summer camp?” you ask. To advertise your summer camp using targeted ads, leverage platforms like Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram to target parents actively searching for summer programs. By utilizing geo-targeting, interest-based segmentation, and retargeting campaigns, you can maximize ad visibility, drive inquiries, and increase enrolment conversions efficiently.
Google Ads enables your summer camp to appear at the top of search results when parents look for camp programs, increasing visibility. Running display ads and retargeting campaigns ensures that those who have previously visited your website are reminded of your offerings, improving conversion rates. Additionally, YouTube Ads allow you to showcase engaging video content of camp activities, testimonials, and program highlights to attract more interest.
Facebook and Instagram Ads offer detailed audience segmentation tools, allowing you to reach parents based on location, interests, and browsing behavior. Carousel, video, and story ads create immersive experiences that engage prospective campers and their families. To further boost engagement, A/B testing different ad creatives and copy variations helps refine messaging to determine what resonates best with your audience.
A/B testing involves creating multiple versions of an advertisement, landing page, or email to determine which version performs best. In digital advertising, A/B testing can compare different ad headlines, images, calls to action, and audience targeting strategies.
Advertisers can analyze performance metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, and engagement levels by running multiple variations simultaneously. The winning version can then be scaled for maximum impact, ensuring your budget is allocated to the most effective ad variations.
Example: When you invest in YouTube ads like the one pictured below, you can show up at the top of the platform’s summer camp search results and greatly expand your reach.
Source: YouTube
6. Encourage Camper and Parent Testimonials
Word-of-mouth remains a powerful marketing tool. Encouraging past campers and their parents to leave reviews on Google, Facebook, and your website adds credibility to your program. Video testimonials are particularly effective at providing an authentic look into the camp experience. Families researching camps trust peer reviews, and showcasing positive experiences helps establish trust and attract new registrations.
Example:Encourage happy campers to leave high-value testimonials highlighting how your program has positivly impacted their lives. The two pictured below are excellent examples of moving word-of-mouth endorsements that improve your program’s public reception and potentially incite desired action.
Source: Double H Ranch
7. Develop an Ambassador Program
Leveraging past campers as ambassadors can create a community-driven summer camp marketing effect that builds long-term brand loyalty. Encouraging past attendees to share their experiences and recommend your camp to friends and family fosters authentic promotion.
One of the most effective approaches is a structured referral program, where returning campers receive discounts or perks when they bring a friend. Offering rewards such as camp merchandise, VIP experiences, or exclusive access to special activities can further incentivize participation.
When working with minors as ambassadors, schools should obtain parental consent, follow child privacy regulations such as COPPA, and ensure that all promotional activities align with ethical guidelines to protect student identity and well-being.
Beyond peer referrals, partnering with local influencers, parenting bloggers, and community leaders can significantly amplify your reach. Inviting these ambassadors to visit your camp, create content, and share their experiences with their followers can increase visibility among parents searching for reputable programs. Providing them with branded hashtags, social media templates, and storytelling prompts ensures consistent and compelling messaging.
To sustain engagement, camps should maintain an ongoing relationship with ambassadors by featuring them in newsletters, social media posts, and alumni spotlights. Creating private groups or online communities for ambassadors fosters a sense of belonging and motivates them to continue advocating for your camp. Implementing an easy-to-use referral tracking system helps measure success and refine strategies for maximum impact.
8. Highlight Your Camp’s Unique Selling Points (USPS)
In a competitive summer camp market, it is crucial to clearly define and communicate your camp’s unique selling points (USPs) to stand out from the rest. Parents and campers have many choices, so highlighting what makes your camp different will help you attract the right audience and increase enrolment.
A USP is a distinct feature or quality that sets your camp apart. To effectively market your camp, you must identify and promote these features across your website, social media, and advertising campaigns. Below are some strong examples of USPs that summer camps can highlight:
Specialized Programs
Small Camper-to-Counselor Ratio
Exclusive Locations
Highly Qualified Staff
Customizable Camp Experiences
Unique Themes or Storylines
Exclusive Partnerships
All-Inclusive Pricing and Amenities
Once you’ve identified your USPs, ensure they are featured prominently on your website homepage, camp brochures, social media posts, and digital advertising. Use testimonials from past campers and parents to reinforce the uniqueness of your offerings.
Example: The School of Magic is unique because of its emphasis on connecting with nature and developing real-world skills. Those unique selling points are evident in the Instagram post below. What sets your summer camp program apart?
Source: The School of Magic
9. Partner With Schools and Community Organizations
Collaborating with schools and local community centers broadens your marketing reach. Schools can distribute flyers and email newsletters promoting your camp, while community organizations can help you reach families looking for summer activities. Building partnerships with educational institutions ensures that your camp gains credibility and visibility in trusted spaces where families make enrolment decisions. Create a buzz around any partnerships in your content across various platforms.
Example: On its website, the Canadian Adventure Camp has a tab called Memberships and Partnerships. There, they list and explain their collaborations and community involvement, showcasing how they add value for campers, families, and those in need. If you’re collaborating with any organization or if you’re involved in charity work, be sure to highlight how you make a difference!
Source: Canadian Adventure Camp
10. Optimize Your Camp’s Mobile Experience
With more parents researching and booking camps on their smartphones, having a mobile-optimized digital presence is essential. A slow or non-responsive website can drive potential campers away, leading to lost enrolment opportunities. To ensure a seamless mobile experience, camps should prioritize mobile usability in all aspects of their digital marketing strategy.
Responsive web design is the foundation of a successful mobile experience. Your website should automatically adjust to different screen sizes, ensuring readers can easily browse your camp’s programs, pricing, and enrolment details on any device. Without this adaptability, parents may abandon their search in favor of a competitor with a more mobile-friendly platform.
Fast load times are another critical factor. If a webpage takes too long to load, parents may become frustrated and leave before completing the registration process. Optimizing images, minimizing unnecessary code, and leveraging browser caching can significantly improve site speed. Google prioritizes fast-loading websites in search results, meaning that a well-optimized mobile site can enhance your summer camp advertisement efforts by increasing visibility in search rankings.
Once a parent arrives on your site, easy navigation and registration are essential. Mobile users should be able to access key pages; such as program descriptions, schedules, and pricing, within a few taps. Registration forms should be concise, requiring only necessary information, and offer autofill features to streamline the process.
Providing click-to-call and chat features offers immediate communication options for parents with questions. A simple button allowing users to call directly from their mobile device or engage in a live chat session with a representative can make a huge difference in converting inquiries into sign-ups. Chatbots can also be used for quick responses outside of business hours, ensuring prospective campers receive the information they need when they need it.
Finally, mobile-friendly payment options make transactions seamless. Integrating secure, one-click payment solutions like Apple Pay, Google Pay, or PayPal can speed up registration and reduce drop-offs. Parents should be able to complete payment without switching devices or navigating through a complex checkout system.
Boost Your Camp Enrolment Today!
Marketing a summer camp successfully requires a well-rounded, strategic approach that meets parents and campers where they are—online! By leveraging SEO, content marketing, social media, email campaigns, paid advertising, and mobile optimization, you can increase visibility, boost engagement, and ultimately drive more enrolments. Highlighting your camp’s unique selling points, developing a strong ambassador program, and ensuring a seamless mobile experience will set your camp apart in a competitive market.
With the right mix of digital marketing techniques, your summer camp can attract the right audience and maximize registrations year after year. Whether refining your summer camp advertisement strategy, improving your website, or launching targeted ad campaigns, a data-driven approach ensures long-term success.
At Higher Education Marketing, we specialize in helping camps and educational institutions implement proven digital marketing strategies that deliver results. If you’re ready to take your summer camp marketing to the next level, reach out to us today to learn how we can help you achieve your enrolment goals.
Struggling with enrollment?
Our expert digital marketing services can help you attract and enroll more students!
