Concordia Language Village

I attended a CLV when I was a child and had a great experience, and this past summer I arranged to send both of my children to different camps. I was extremely disappointed for a number of reasons, which I expressed on their questionnaires. I heard nothing from anyone. I just now got a phone call asking about my children’s’ experiences, and I (again) relayed the various issues we encountered that were unsatisfactory. Then the strangest thing happened==the person calling practically cut me off, said she was sorry they didn’t have a good experience, but would I consider providing a scholarship to a child who couldn’t afford the tuition? (nearly 1000 a week.) I laughed! How tacky! Seriously though, the whole experience made me very sad. We went to great trouble and expense to send the kids there. They certainly are not running an efficient operation, and it used to be so great!

I have a mixed review. The camp was fantastic for my son last year. The new registration system, however, has serious flaws. Two months ago when I registered for camp for this summer, I thought everything was set. However, I just found out that the registration system lets you register for CLOSED sessions. You go all the way through the system and you have just registered for a CLOSED session. You even get a confirmation email (ok, I didn’t read line 12 of the confirmation email where it says «waitlist» for status — I just read the top that let’s you know you successfully completed registration).
Getting your children’s summer plans set is a huge task for parents. Sending your kid to a camp that’s a four hour plane ride is a big leap. If you can’t trust the administrative and operations side of a camp to do things right, how can you feel good about the rest of the experience.