Elwood is the executive director of Headfirst, which runs summer camps for children at three locations in the Washington area. He has worked for Headfirst since 1997.
What types of summer activities does the D.C. area offer?
There’s a lot of programs in the D.C. area, especially with the arts. There’s a lot of art and museum-based programs. … Pretty much every school has some sort of camp program that’s tailored to the specifics of that school. … There are a lot of sports camps and day camps.
What are some good ways to keep children occupied during the summer?
We are an open-platform learning environment. We promote effort over results in everything we do. It’s an opportunity to get out of the classroom and either practice a sport or multiple sports that you’re truly interested in. Or it’s a chance to really get outside the classroom box and do more project-based, hands-on learning.
What are the safety issues specific to summer that people caring for children should know about?
Of course, any time in Washington when you’re outdoors, heat exhaustion is something to be aware of, as well as dehydration. Making sure [kids] are in an environment that’s well aware of that and takes extra precautions is important. [At Headfirst], we have extra water breaks, things like that.
What does Headfirst have planned for the summer?
We have single-specific sport camps. We then have a multisport camp and campers come and play eight different sports and instructional swimming throughout the week. We run a day camp for children. It’s a traditional day camp that includes outdoor activities and beginning sports activities. Our last division is what we call our specialty camps. […] It’s one week of culinary arts, cooking. We have a magic camp, too.
— Emily Babay
