Global Citizen Summer Camp
Monday, June 8 - Friday, June 12
9 AM - 5 PM
OSU Columbus Campus
Registration and payment due by Monday, April 13
About the Camp
The Global Citizen Summer Camp is a non-residential camp for middle school students (rising 6th through 8th graders). Through a variety of interactive and age appropriate activities, students are taught to step outside their comfort zone and gain a deeper understanding of what it means to belong to and navigate within multiple and diverse communities. Students will learn basics of world languages through an immersive experience and participate in activities that focus on developing intercultural competence and global citizenship.
Objectives
The overarching objectives are to promote skills in students to effectively:
- Communicate in the language of the people with whom one is interacting
- Interact with awareness, sensitivity, empathy, and knowledge of the perspectives of others
- Have developed cultural self-awareness and examined their beliefs, values, and assumptions regarding cultural differences
- Withhold judgment, examining one’s own perspectives as similar to or different from the perspectives of people with whom one is interacting
- Be alert to cultural differences in situations outside of one’s culture, including noticing cues indicating miscommunication or causing an inappropriate action or response in a situation
- Act respectfully according to what is appropriate in the culture and the situation where everyone is not of the same culture or language background, including gestures, expressions, and behaviors
- Increase knowledge about the products, practices, and perspectives of other cultures
Additional Information
- The camp will cap at a maximum of 30 students
- Languages featured in this year's camp include German, Japanese, Korean and Russian
- Students will spend half the day having a language immersion experience and the other half learning about Intercultural Competence
- The cost for the camp is $200 (with limited needs-based scholarships; a discount is also available for enrolling more than one student from the same household - check out our registration form for more payment details)
- Students who attend the whole week of camp will be given a Certificate of Participation
Questions?
For any questions regarding the summer camp or to request to add your child/children to our waiting list, please email us at CLLCPrograms@osu.edu.
Photos
To see photos from previous summer camps, please check out our photo gallery!
Meet the Team
Sandhya Shanker is an Education Program Senior Specialist at the Center for Languages, Literatures and Cultures and is the camp coordinator. She is largely responsible for coordinating and collaborating on existing initiatives as well as envisioning and designing new initiatives related to the promotion of Intercultural Competence (IC) on campus. Sandhya is also an instructor for a General Education course at OSU titled FRIT 3054 (21st Century Skill: Intercultural Competence for Global Citizenship) and is a Qualified Administrator for the IDI © assessment. Prior to joining the CLLC in July 2023, Sandhya served as Director of the Community Language School at Michigan State University where she developed and supervised language programs as well as language and culture events for the larger community serving preschoolers to adults.
Nikolai Ewing just completed his third year at The Ohio State University. He is an international studies major who enjoys studying Russian. He has worked at other summer camps in the past and is excited to be working this summer at the global citizen summer camp. When he isn't working, Nikolai enjoys running, boxing, sailing, and swimming. Nikolai enjoys talking about the Russian language and he enjoys traveling to countries that were previously in the Soviet Union. Nikolai has visited Russia, Kazakhstan, and Estonia and he hopes to visit more countries in the future. He hopes the campers will have a good time and learn something new about the world!
Ana Kain is a current sophomore at OSU double majoring in Korean and Japanese. She will be teaching Korean for the Global Citizen Summer Camp, which she has studied for the past four years at OSU, as well as through personal study and travel. She grew up surrounded by foreign language and is passionate about spreading her love for foreign languages and cultures with others. She has experience teaching and interacting with middle schoolers and is excited to meet this year's students!
Lily Clark is a current third-year student at Ohio State studying Public Health with minors in German and Speech and Hearing Sciences. She is thrilled to be serving as an intern with the camp this summer and sharing her passion for the German language. Lily attended a German-language elementary school and has continued studying German through high school and, eventually, now into college, totaling over 15 years of German language learning. She has also been fortunate enough to study abroad in Germany twice, first as an exchange student in middle school and most recently last May through an Ohio State study abroad program in Berlin. These experiences solidified her passion and understanding of the German language, history, and culture, and strengthened her commitment to lifelong language learning. In addition to her language background, Lily also brings extensive experience working with youth, following multiple years as a camp counselor with the YMCA and serving as a program supervisor for the Cincinnati Zoo’s teen volunteer program. She is so excited to share her love of German with others and hopefully inspire a new generation of German learners!
Deva Centers is currently a junior at Ohio State majoring in International Studies and minoring in Japanese. She has been learning Japanese for three years so far. In the Spring of 2025, Deva applied her cultural and linguistic knowledge skills as a student teacher for a beginner Japanese class at Beaumont Middle School in Lexington, Kentucky. Aside from linguistic studies, she has had other meaningful experiences working with youth groups. Deva spent the Autumn 2024 semester as a mentor for an after-school nonprofit in Lexington and is currently an Educational Aide at Upper Arlington's School-Age Child Care program. Deva's favorite thing about working with students is planning crafts and activities for them where they learn along the way. She looks forward to the opportunity to do this at the Global Citizen Summer Camp to introduce students to Japanese culture and language!