Our Program
Academic Rigor meets Sports Camp Excellence.
Required Academics
CampSuccess offers a required, core Public Speaking course developed by Harvard and Yale-trained experts designed to inspire confidence, creativity, critical thinking, and effective communication. Through rigorous workshops, skill drills, and public speaking tournaments, students develop leadership tools that set them apart — ready to meet every challenge in the classroom and beyond.
Students will learn:
- Confident Public Speaking
- Leadership Independence & Initiative
- Critical Thinking & Analytical Writing
- Curiosity & Creative Self-Expression
- Interview & Communication Skills
(Spoken English coaching available for international students who want to improve English skills.)
CONFIDENT PUBLIC SPEAKING FOR INFLUENCE AND IMPACT
Required for all campers
Leadership begins with learning how to form your own convictions and communicating them with clarity and impact. We’ve successfully taught these schools for two decades, from Seoul to San Diego, Beijing to Boston, New Delhi to New Jersey. Our public speaking course integrates critical writing, persuasive thinking, and confident delivery. Students engage in drills and creative expression exercises, culminating in a formal presentation, competition, and awards ceremony.
Taught by Kenneth Cain, CampSuccess co-founder, Jim Fyfe and Julia Tonelli, our proprietary content and teaching techniques are grounded in decades of success across the globe.
Here’s a sample curriculum from our Public Speaking component. We guarantee students will see noticeable improvements in both communication skills and personal confidence immediately.
I. Intro to Public Speaking: Participatory Skills Training
Module 1: Developing Confidence & Creativity: Leadership for Middle Schoolers
Goal: Introduce how creative self-expression leads to personal and academic success. Begin practice drills and foundational skills training.
Module 2: Building Communication Foundations
Goal: Develop core speaking skills through interactive exercises and peer feedback sessions.
Module 3: Advanced Presentation Techniques
Goal: Master advanced delivery methods and audience engagement strategies.
Module 4: Learn to Express Yourself, Ask, “Why?”
Goal: Push self-expression further using introspective “why?” prompts, building clarity and courage through individual and group critique.
II. Storytelling—How to Use Familiar Storytelling Skills
Module 5: Crash Course in “Narrative” for Public Speaking
Students explore the 7 Fundamental Storytelling Techniques:
- Physical setting, time and place
- Character development
- Take us on “Journey”
- Stakes
- Story Arc
- Voice & Point of View
- Show-Don’t-Tell: using all senses
Module 6: Improvisation: Nervousness, Spontaneity & Humor
Goal: Integrate confident expression with spontaneous delivery, using humor and improvisation.
Module 7: Advanced Storytelling Exercises: TED Talk Prep
Goal: Prepare for final project by applying advanced storytelling and delivery techniques, including The Power of the Pause™ and other speaking tools.
III. TED-Style Talk
Module 8: Final Preparation: TED-Style Talk Dress Rehearsal
Goal: Conduct a full run-through of student speeches, with peer feedback and final coaching.
Module 9: Concluding Class: Formal TED-style Talk
Goal: Deliver a polished, confident, and fully developed three-minute TED-style speech on a topic of the student’s choosing, using story structure, clarity, and personal conviction.
EXPLORE OUR ELECTIVES
In addition to the CampSuccess core public speaking course, we offer “camper’s choice” academic electives in Elite Admissions Counseling, AI & The Future of Education, and High Executive Functioning: The High Performance Mindset. In combination with academic excellence, Camp Winadu is famous for its long list of “camper’s choice” healthy, fun, and competitive sports, adventure and water front electives.
ACADEMIC ELECTIVES
