On a summer afternoon, students can be found engaging in outdoor activities on the Parker field. They spend their days bouncing on inflatables, doing art and crafts, playing sports, and conversing with friends. For six weeks, Parker’s campus transformed from academia to a summer camp for students. 

Annually, starting June 21, Parker opens its doors to children from around Chicago for a six-week summer camp. Students from kindergarten through the eighth grade are eligible to participate. The camp has three sessions throughout the months of June and July, and runs for seven hours each day. Approximately 125 students attend per session. Co-Director of Parker Summers Stacie Newmark “loves working with kids.”

“I feel lucky that I get to plan fun,” Newmark said. “It’s great to be able to plan such exciting activities for such a wide range of kids. I just have a good time.”

In terms of COVID-19, the Parker Summers program followed school protocols. Students were required to wear masks inside but not outside. However, due to some lifted guidelines, campers could embark on field trips and excursions this year. 

“Last year, no one was comfortable with going on a bus and being inside,” Newmark said. “This year, we added back the field trips, but we didn’t do one overnight. Maybe next year.”

The students attending camp are split into four separate groups by age. For the “JK-SK Minnows” and “1st-2nd Grade Frogs,” most activities remain on Parker campus, with the exception of the occasional beach visit. 

“For them it’s about just acclimating to being at camp in a group setting,” Newmark said. “For second grade, we start doing more field trips off campus at places like Altitude and Trampoline Zone. We also add swimming once a week at the Women’s Athletic Club.” 

For these groups, each week has a designated theme that activities are based around. 

“They have parties each week based on the theme,” Newmark said. “They’ve done an Olympic party, a pajama party, and dress up days.”

Students in intermediate and middle school grades participate in a different program called “Parker Summers Extreme.” The “4th-5th Grade Dolphins” and “6th-8th Grade Sharks” engage in various activities collectively.

“Due to the developmental, age appropriateness for the kids, they are going off campus more, and they get more of a choice in what they do,” Newmark said. “For example, we have an Extreme Sports Class where we did paddling at North Avenue Beach.”

This year was senior Ana Franco’s first year as a counselor. She oversaw students of all ages throughout her time working and enjoyed the off campus activities.

“It was a fun break to get out of school with all the campers,” Franco said. “The counselors get to do activities too, like bowling.” 

Like Franco, this year was also Will Ehrlich ’21’s first year as a counselor. He oversaw 45 kids total across several age groups. 

“It was very tiring because even though I loved working with them, they’re young, and it was their first time working with me and having me as a counselor,” Ehrlich said. “I was a new person to them, so it took them a little while to trust them enough to listen to me.”

Ehrlich recalled having a good relationship with fellow counselors.

“I worked with a lot of my friends from high school, so it was great to see them all again, especially since we all graduated and went our separate ways,” Ehrlich said. “I also loved working with the teachers there that were older because they were really respectful and treated us like equals and not like students.”

Franco was searching for a summer job, and figured being a counselor would be a good fit.

 “I liked that it’s associated with Parker,” Franco said. “It was easy because I knew the school, so it was easy to share my schedule and have it accommodate. Also, I know Parker, so I’ve seen some of the kids and all of the counselors.” 

Ehrlich enjoyed his time at Parker throughout high school, and was “excited” to return. 

“Going back and seeing my friends was awesome, and getting to work with those amazing children was awesome,” Ehrlich said. “It made me quite a bit of money, and I wasn’t mad about that either! I will definitely go back next summer.”