Summer break is a time to have fun with friends and family, to travel, to learn something new and to meet new people. Eastern provides many opportunities for faculty and students, high school and college alike, to participate in summer camps that recruit and do many of the above.

The university offers something for nearly everyone with camps and programs like Minority Teacher Identification and Enrichment Program, National Cheer Association (NCA), Theater, Art, Music (Drum Major), Illinois Press Foundation, Universal Dance Association (UDA), Volleyball, Men’s Soccer, baseball, Marching Auxiliaries, distance running, Upward Bound and many more.

Nearly all of Eastern is involved with summer camps.

Conference Services employed over 50 people, including Eastern students, full-time assistants, and graduate assistants from Eastern and other universities, to work closely with Campus Scheduling, Housing, Student Rec Center, Physical Plant, Building Service Workers, Panther Dining, Campus Police and many more areas & departments.

“It takes everyone at the university to make a camp successful,” said Matt Boyer, conference coordinator. “We can’t forget about the Charleston and Mattoon communities that help make these camps successful as well.”

Eastern gains a small profit from all the camps that come to the university, said Boyer.

“Our main focus is not to make a lot of money,” said Boyer. “It is more about recruitment and keeping university staff employed all year long.”

Conference Services begins preparing in October for the following summer by looking at what each camp is going to need and planning accordingly.

The university can accommodate 12 to 13 groups at one time.

For all camps and programs Eastern supplies many of the same services that any college student would receive while living on campus, such as single or double rooms, 24-hour emergency, air-conditioned facilities, lounge areas and TV rooms, telephone service, cable-ready room, an Ethernet jack, wireless internet connections and bath and shower facilities.

Many camps also provide a meal plan of two or three meals a day for participants who commute or stay at Eastern.

According to Boyer, Conference Services is now able to track some of the summer groups and have currently found that 418 of incoming new students in 2003 had attended a camp at Eastern and 497 in 2004. This fall the 2005 list will be completed.

“We have summer camps to let people experience what EIU has to offer,” said Boyer. “By getting these individuals (Jr. High & High School students, parents, teachers, grandparents, etc.) on our campus and into our buildings, we hope they will remember their great experiences at EIU when it is time to consider where they want to go to college.”