Camp Wah-Nee Sleepaway Camp in Torrington, Connecticut

One full-summer programme for all campers aged 7 to 17. The day holds six activity periods — three in the morning and three in the afternoon — and a swim can take the third or the sixth of them. Wake-up is at eight, meals are eaten family style by division, a rest hour follows lunch, and the evening ends with a camp-wide evening activity after free play. A four-week option exists for first-time campers in the junior grades, with the choice of extending to the full session.

The fee covers the stay in a bunk, all meals, the activity programme, laundry sent out weekly through a local service, all local trips, and transportation to and from the pick-up points in New York and New Jersey. Camp clothing, the overnight trips for the three senior grades, trunk delivery and private lessons or tutoring are billed separately. The camp has a no-tipping policy and tips for counsellors are not accepted.

Campers live in spacious wooden bunks with their division, and the senior girls have their own lodge on the campus. Boys and girls live in their own parts of the site and share the dining hall, the waterfront and the activity areas. Counsellors live in the bunks with the campers.

Meals are served in an air-conditioned dining hall, family style by division, with the whole camp eating at the same time. Each meal offers several options and leans on fresh local produce, and lunch and dinner always include a salad bar with lettuce, cut vegetables, tuna salad and hummus. The kitchen manages many dietary requirements, cooks gluten-free meals separately for campers with celiac disease, and states plainly that the site is not nut-free.

Waterfront activities on Shadow Lake include swimming, sailing, canoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding, windsurfing and water toys. Land sport runs on eight tennis courts, five basketball courts, three soccer pitches, three baseball and softball fields, three beach volleyball courts, two roller hockey rinks, a flag football field, gaga courts and an archery site, with a fitness centre and weight room alongside. The arts cover arts and crafts, cooking, theatre, woodworking and dance. Adventure programming adds a ropes course with a zipline, rock climbing walls and a treehouse, a Ninja Warrior course, trampolines and a trapeze, and a circus programme.

The campus is built around Shadow Lake and its waterfront. Indoors there is a gym used for sport in any weather, a theatre, a dance studio, an art studio, a woodshop, a gymnastics pavilion, a fitness centre with a weight room and an air-conditioned dining hall. Outdoors: an Olympic-sized pool, eight tennis courts, five basketball courts, three soccer pitches, three baseball and softball fields, three beach volleyball courts, two roller hockey rinks, a flag football field, gaga courts, an archery site, a campfire site, a ropes course with zipline and climbing walls, a Ninja Warrior course and a canteen. The health centre is air-conditioned and staffed by nurses around the clock.

Wah-Nee has been running for over 95 years and leans on that: long-standing traditions, returning staff and a stated aim that everyone is kind for its own sake. The camp sets out to build integrity, empathy and sportsmanship alongside self-confidence and resilience, and counsellors come from all over the world and go through an eight-day orientation before campers arrive. Campers are not allowed devices that connect to the internet, so the summer is spent on activities and friendships.