Connected Camps

2020 Annual Report

Message From Our Founders

2020 was an extraordinary year for Connected Camps and the world,

and a fitting one for offering our first ever annual report.

Our team stepped up with a rapid response to the pandemic and childrens’ dire need for fun, safe, and social spaces for learning. We expanded the hours of our free Kid Club Minecraft server, continued esports coaching in over 100 schools, hired and trained 69 new college counselors, and expanded our online summer camp enrollments 1000%. We also doubled down on our commitments to equity and racial justice by hiring our most diverse cohort of counselors ever, the majority of whom identify with a group historically underrepresented in tech.

We are so proud of our administrative team and our counselors who stepped up to meet the moment and serve over 20,000 children who found themselves suddenly stuck at home. Our programs and servers became a lifeline to social and emotional support, learning, and play during the darkest months of the pandemic. In this Annual Report, we share the details and the numbers of this tremendous year of growth and learning for our organization.

– Mimi Ito & Katie Salen

Our Mission

Our mission is to build a global online community where young people build, code, play, and learn from one another.

! !

We believe all young people deserve to have experiences of “connected learning” where they are pursuing an interest and learning with mentors and peers who are fellow enthusiasts.

Networked gaming and creation platforms offer new opportunities for connected learning. We broaden access by tapping the power of diverse young tech experts, our college counselors, who design programs, teach and inspire with the technology of the times.

Our Values

Generous Collaborators

Committed to Excellent Play

Community is important here. We always act with empathy and think of the person behind the screen.

Models and Mentors

Our team leads by example and keeps it kid-friendly. We set the bar for how to work responsibly with young people.

Lifelong Learners

Feedback moves us forward. Our goal is to do better today than yesterday. We build, test, iterate, and repeat.

2020 in Review

College Counselors Hired

1500% INCREASE

2017 – 2019 2020 !

in earned revenue from 2019 to 2020

1000% INCREASE

in campers served

100

High School Esports Team Coached

new recruited counselors +69

our administrative staff DOUBLED

Parent Perspective

Great experience! The coach was very encouraging and supportive and gave kids a lot of suggestions that would work in Fortnite and in life as well, like goal setting and strategy. My son was consistently excited and enthusiastic about what he learned in class. In fact, the hour after every class was usually spent with him explaining to me what he did in great detail.

– Katie – Vadja

Campers Enrolled

16,655 enrollments in our camps, clubs, and courses

2,014 camps and courses offered

21,156 session hours played

majority of learners were

AGED 8 - 13

1,648

our Free Minecraft Kid Club

33,228 PLAYERS

289 days,

Kid Club server for kids aged 8 -13

Our People

Demographics

Our recruitment efforts focus heavily on reaching historically underrepresented groups in the gaming and tech industries.
Asian 9%
Black 9%
Latinx 24%
White 36%

Our internal training program invests in providing over four weeks of paid training to ensure all team members are set up for success, regardless of varying levels of prior experience.

Management

Our management team is dedicated to a human-centered leadership approach founded on empathy.

Counselor Spotlights

Morgan Buyse (she/her), 21 yrs old

LEAD DEVELOPER

“In the past year, I’ve been a part of incredibly exciting projects. By far, my favorite moments are from our Kid Club, where I’m able to interact with kiddos, model digital citizenship, and inspire the next generation of minecrafters.”

Sebastian Carbajal (he/him), 20 yrs old

LEAD DEVELOPER

“Coming from an extremely underprivileged background, I understand how crucial and advantageous these classes are to not only helping kids expand their knowledge, but also providing them with these skills at an early age, through a format that is both fun and intellectually challenging.”

Carter Wilken (they/them), 22 yrs old

LEAD DEVELOPER, II

“Connected Camps has given me the incredible opportunity to apply my education in helping our kids learn and form friendships across the world, even in the middle of the pandemic.”

Operations Team Highlights

Jake Lui PROGRAM MEDIA ASSISTANT (he/him)

“Connected Camps has always been a special organization, achieving a very important mission in unique and clever ways. It’s provided me invaluable experience with leadership, designing curricula, teaching kids and learning from them.”

Alexis Albertie COUNSELOR MANAGER (she/her)

“I had just finished my fifth year teaching high school math when I saw the opportunity to be a counselor manager with CC. I loved that it was not a traditional education model, but provided the space to explore learner interests while pushing young educators to become leaders in and out of the classroom.”

Matthew Kreutter PRODUCT MANAGER (he/him)

“The biggest goal I have for my work is for it to benefit the young people we serve-campers, volunteers, and counselors-in whatever stage of life they are.”

Diego De La Peza PEOPLE DIRECTOR (he/him)

“We are demonstrating that paying young adults fair wages, allowing flexible scheduling, providing meaningful work opportunities, and treating team members with respect and compassion are all possible.”

Special Thanks

Connected Camps thanks Juan Rubio & Luis Gonsalez The Seattle Public Library

Connected Camps thanks Jin Ha Lee & Jason Yip Information School at University of Washington

Pivotal Ventures

and North American Scholastic Esports Federation

Raffael “Dr. B” Boccamazzo Take This

Samueli Foundation

Constance Steinkuehler & Craig Anderson Connected Learning Lab

for their generous support in 2020.