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PROLOGUE
Camp Is an Open House You Forgot to Run
It's a Tuesday in late June, 8:45 a.m. A mom pulls into your lot, walks her seven-year-old to the gym door, waves, and drives off to work. She'll do it again tomorrow. And the next day. For three weeks straight, she is on your campus every single morning.
She does not have a child enrolled at your school. She has never inquired. She has never been on a tour.
And your admissions office has no idea she exists.
This is the quietest missed opportunity of the entire year. Summer camp families have already driven through your gate. They already trust you with the thing they care about most. They already like the place enough to write you a check. That is the warmest top-of-funnel a school will ever get, and most of us file it under "auxiliary revenue" and never speak to those parents again.
We treat camp like daycare. It is closer to a three-week open house.
Here is the shift. Stop thinking of camp as a program that ends in August, and start thinking of it as a list of prospective families standing on your campus right now.
A few moves, none of them heavy:
Get the camp roster into your CRM. Every camp parent who isn't a current family is an inquiry waiting to be named. Tag them. They are not strangers anymore.
Use the three weeks. A short welcome note. A photo of what their child built today. A line that says, "this is what a Tuesday feels like here all year."
Make pickup a soft tour. The parent is already standing in your doorway at 3 p.m. Ten unhurried minutes is all it takes to plant the idea.
Follow up in August, while the good feeling is fresh, before the school-year calendar swallows everyone whole.
You spend months and real money trying to get families to set foot on campus. In July, dozens of them show up on their own and pay you for the privilege.
The family is already here. Go say hello.
Thanks,
Brendan
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UPCOMING EVENT
For MarCom Society Members Only
How to Hire for Marketing + Admission Offices
Struggling with team misalignment, communication gaps, or hiring challenges in your school? In this webinar, Miriam Stein of Thrive Hive will share proven strategies using the Six Types of Working Genius framework to help school leaders, admissions teams, HR professionals, and business offices build stronger, more aligned teams.
✅ Improve school team collaboration
✅ Hire smarter and reduce turnover
✅ Boost productivity and team morale
Perfect for Heads of School, Advancement Officers, Business Offices, Admissions, Marketing, and Development Teams.
Bio: Miriam Stein is a graduate of an independent day school and an educator at heart. She served as the upper school director of admission at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School, part of a team responsible for maintaining the school’s 1000-student enrollment. After more than 20 years in education and in strategic enrollment, she moved into the world of consulting with Thrive Hive to help school professionals around the country with teamwork, collaboration and enrollment strategy. Miriam is a regular presenter for EMA, AISAP, Niche, FinalSite, Prizmah, and others.
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