• In 1986, a Hollywood film called Space Camp was a big hit in North American movie theatres. Starring actors Lea Thompson, Kate Capshaw, Kelly Preston, Tate Donovan and Joaquin Phoenix, it was about a group of teens at a summer space camp who accidentally get launched into space while sitting in a shuttle.

• By the 1980s and 90s, summer camp was no longer just about swimming and campfires. During these decades, specialty camps began to crop up everywhere. These days there are specialty camps for every interest under the sun: gymnastics, tennis, music, arts & crafts, cheerleading, science, drama, computers - if there are children interested in an activity, there is likely a camp for it.

• In a 2008 Sports Illustrated article, writer Frank Deford laments this proliferation in specialty camps: "For the current generation of 21st century kids, whatever they're called, the camps have become downright vocational. A boy who has parents who think he can win an athletic scholarship as a quarterback gets sent to quarterback camp. Or a pitching camp. Or a goalie camp. They probably have offensive left-tackle camps now because left-tackles make a bundle in the NFL. Summer for children now is a time of apprenticing. Nobody anymore is treading water with a candle to a Strauss waltz. There's no future in that."