The Mission of Mathcamp
Now in our 32nd year, Mathcamp is an intensive five-week residential summer program for mathematically talented high school students from all over the world.
What is the mission of Mathcamp?
In other words: why does Mathcamp exist in the world? What is our motivation and purpose? Here's our mission:
Mathcamp creates transformational experiences in the mathematical and personal journeys of young people who are drawn together by a shared curiosity for deep mathematics.
What kind of students participate in Mathcamp?
We serve diverse cohorts of students who are mathematically ready for our curriculum.
- Our campers are strong math students, but it's not just about being an 'A' student (and it's certainly not about scores on contests): our students are sponges for mathematical ideas, and light up when connecting with new concepts.
- There are as many roads that lead to Mathcamp as there are students in the program! Mathcampers truly come from all walks of life, and we intentionally bring together 120 campers ever summer who represent many different backgrounds and share a passion for math.
What distinguishes Mathcamp from other summer programs?
Mathcamp is an unusual place! Here are a few things that make it unique:
- Freedom of Choice. Students have full flexibility for deciding how to spend their time, mathematically and otherwise.
- A broad curriculum. Our instructors also have full flexibility to choose their topics: we teach the material we’re excited about teaching, and that gives us the opportunity to share mathematical ideas that students might not encounter elsewhere.
- More than half of students return for multiple summers: exploring new ideas in the ever-changing curriculum, and helping us to perpetuate Mathcamp's inclusive, welcoming culture.
What's so special about Mathcamp's culture?
When students and staff reflect on the program, the key elements that they highlight are the sheer joy and the strong community that are the hallmarks of Mathcamp's culture.
Doing math at Mathcamp is not competitive, and it's not performative: you don't have to keep proving yourself by doing calisthenics to show that you're good at math. (We already know that our students are great!) The mathematical and social environment at Mathcamp is an oasis of collaboration and kindness, and centers around the shared curiosity that is at the heart of what we all have in common.
