PlanetBravo Techno-tainment Camp

I now have 3 boys that have all gone to Planet Bravo. The older ones started out at the location near UCLA (because that was the only one then). My youngest one just finished his 2^nd year at the Santa Monica location. He is going into 7^th grade and would like to do Planet Bravo for the whole summer.
What is their biggest strength? Their awesome counselors. And that is what is most important. They are both able to teach the kids and able to play with them and they are silly and goofy and everything that is wonderful about being a kid and loving to learn.
As a woman, I respect (admire, love) that they hire many women and have lots of young girls who go to this camp.
Let’s see what else do I love: They post pictures and videos each day of camp. My kid watches these, cracks up and makes me watch them with him. Even if your kid doesn’t go, you should look at these (try the Santa Monica location from the year 2013). So it’s not for me (the parent) that they post these videos, it’s for the kids.
Now I will compare it with one of those «fancier» techno camps. When my oldest son aged out of PB, he and his brother went to ID Tech Camp at UCLA. It definitely has its good points, don’t get me wrong. But it doesn’t compare to Planet Bravo for the age group that PB serves. I wish PB would design a camp for older kids, too.
My oldest son is now studying computer science at college, (disclaimer: he worked as a PB counselor for one summer), and has a fantastic internship this summer in Seattle. I think that his love for this field (and knowing it was a good match for him) was fostered during his early years at PB.

The English language doesn’t contain enough positive words to properly describe this camp and the experience my son has had. From the first phone call, the Planet Bravo staff has been stunningly accommodating, flexible and FRIENDLY! Friendly to the point that I was disappointed that I couldn’t go to camp too! Everyone involved seems genuinely happy to be there and to be working with kids (I can’t say that about every one of the other camp experiences we’ve had).
Socially, my son had a great time. That’s terrific, but this is a tech camp so I was really eager to see how he’d take to the instruction, and if such a long day of education (8:15−4:30!) would work for him. It did! My super antsy, squirmy, bouncy kid was focused enough to learn Adobe After Effects and was even EXCITED about it. Camp was all he could talk about. There was one day when I thought we weren’t going to be able to make it, and he actually started to cry.
I know it’s not the lowest-​priced option around, but if you can make it work, it’s really and truly worth it.