FAQs

• If I sign up to run a Flint camp, what’s my monetary investment?

  Your TOTAL monetary investment is $0 from start to finish. Of course, you’ll be investing a lot of hard work, but Flint covers ALL out-of-pocket costs for materials, supplies, facility, and camp director and teaching assistants’ compensation. Campers pay $240 each for the weeklong camp.

• If I sign up to run a Flint camp, what’s my time investment?

  Camp Directors typically spend 10-15 hours preparing for camp. This includes reserving a facility/building space, identifying teaching assistants (other teachers, or high school or college students), efforts to get kids enrolled in camp, and reviewing the camp curriculum. Then, of course, there’s the 40- to 50-hour commitment of the camp itself.

• How do camp directors and teaching assistants get paid?

  As soon as your camp has a minimum enrollment of 40, we’ll send you $500 (which is a portion of your total compensation). After the camp, you ship the camp-in-a-box back to us, and when we receive it, you will be paid the balance of your compensation. Your full compensation is a minimum of $1,000 for 40 paid campers, and up to $1,600 for 100 paid campers. You can elect to receive a check in the mail or be paid online via PayPal. Your teaching assistants will also be paid after we receive the box back, each separately. Flint pays the TAs $400 for the full-day, one week commitment.

• How are camps structured?

  It is a week-long program, Monday through Friday, with mornings for younger campers and afternoons for older students. The session in the morning is for kids going into 5th and 6th grades and the afternoon session is for 7th and 8th graders. Students participates in 2 different STEM activities each day led by you and your assistants.

• What are the camp location and facility requirements?

  You will be responsible for reserving a facility/building space for the camp, but Flint covers the cost. You can use a school building (recommended), or any facility that meets the camp needs. All the requirements for space planning will be provided on your dashboard. Flint will pay facility rental fees up to $1,500 per week.

• What's the deadline to sign up to run a camp?

  You need to commit to being a camp director and secure your facility and dates at least 60 days prior to the camp start date. That’s the minimum we’ll need to get your everything ready and allow you time to recruit your campers. However, since parents and kids often make their summer plans early, we strongly encourage you to sign up to run a camp as early in the year as possible so you can begin recruiting campers!

• How do my camp materials arrive?

  Your camp materials will arrive in a shipment from Flint that includes several individual boxes, plus two additional shipments from third parties. We will email you tracking numbers for each shipment. Along with all the materials, supplies and tech gadgets, your boxes will include detailed written instructions for each activity.

• What’s the teacher to student ratio?

  We do our best to have a camper to instructor ratio of about 10 to 1.

• What are the requirements to be a camp director?

  The ideal Flint STEP Camp director is a certified teacher or someone with at least some teaching experience. You don’t need to be a STEM teacher, but the best camp directors are passionate about science, technology, engineering and math. One of the first steps on your dashboard’s checklist is a background check where you will be asked to provide your qualifications. We assess teacher qualifications and background check results to ensure that our campers have a great educational experience and are in a safe environment.

• What age groups attend morning vs afternoon sessions?

  The morning session is for students entering 5th and 6th grades and an afternoon session is for those going into 7th and 8th grades.

• Can I choose any dates for my camp?

  You can hold the camp whenever you’d like during the summer, but we recommend mid- to late-July.

• Is there a minimum or maximum number of campers?

  Normally you must have a minimum of 40 campers to hold a camp. Those 40 can be divided between the younger morning session and the older afternoon session in any way. The maximum number of campers is 100. A more even distribution of morning and afternoon campers will help you manage the camp. The more campers you have, the higher your compensation. Also, with more campers you will need more teaching assistants.

• What if I don’t reach the 40-camper minimum?

  If you don’t reach the 40-camper minimum, please contact Flint and we can discuss options for holding a smaller camp. If your camp needs to be cancelled due to low enrollment, campers’ tuition will be refunded. Obviously we don’t want that to happen, so we provide a “Promote Your Camp” section in your dashboard with ideas and resources to help you recruit campers to ensure your success!

• As the camp director, do I run the camp by myself?

  No, you’ll recruit teaching assistants (TAs), who are usually STEM-savvy high school or college students. With a minimum size camp of 40, you’ll need two teaching assistants. As your enrollment grows you’ll need more to keep the camper to instructor ratio around 10 to 1. Your dashboard will give you complete details on how many TAs you’ll need and how to recruit them.

• How do I know how to run the camp and teach the activities?

  You do not need any specific STEM training. Every camp activity comes with complete instructions. All of our activities include safety measures and precautions to ensure you and the campers are safe.

• How do campers learn about my camp?

  You will have access to a camp promotion section on your dashboard. This “marketing toolkit” provides lots of ideas, along with downloadable flyers, social media templates and other resources to help you promote camp attendance.

• Are there rules about a private teacher running a summer camp?

  Nope. We require a background check for all Camp Directors so the verification and vetting process is exactly the same for private and public school teachers.

• What kind of waivers will kids/parents need to sign and who is liable for accidents, Flint or me?

  Every camper will submit a release form and Flint will be liable for all accidents.

• What is the camp’s cancellation policy? How can I protect myself from refund demands or no-shows?

  We offer a 100% refund if a student cancels more than 60 days before the first day of camp. If campers cancel between 30 and 60 days before, they receive a 50% refund. Unfortunately, after that, we cannot offer a refund for cancellation.