Galileo Summer Quest:
incubator for emerging visionaries

When kids get to around 5th grade, something happens. Suddenly, they’re ready to pick a passion and go deep exploring it. That’s where Galileo goes deep, too.

Galileo Summer Quest gives burgeoning visionaries the opportunity to take the next step. They continue to leverage our Stanford-d.school-inspired innovation process, but in place of weekly themes we introduce weekly majors.

Inspired by expert instructors – many of them professionals in their fields – campers realize their personal vision in one or more of 14 majors. Each week is an opportunity to try something new, or go deeper in a major they already love.

Click on one of the 4 categories below to learn more.

Arts Academy

  • Digital Photography
  • Digital Filmmaking
  • Comic Book Workshop
  • Painter's Studio
  • Fashion Design

High Technology

  • Intro to Video Game Design
  • Video Game Design Advanced
  • Website Design
  • Lego Robotics

Culinary Arts

  • Chefology: Simply Savory
  • Chefology: Decadent Desserts

Builders and Makers

  • Go-Kart Builders
  • Go-Karts Extreme
  • Inventor's Workshop

MAJOR INNOVATION, MAJOR FUN.

Summer Quest campers are a busy lot. They spend 4 hours a day working in their majors—learning new skills, collaborating with their major-mates, taking an idea from vision to reality—but camp certainly isn’t all work and no fun. 

Every week is packed with out-of-the-classroom opportunities to participate in camp-wide activities or play games. Inside their majors and out of them, campers have plenty of room to relax, play, build new friendships or simply hang out with some of Galileo’s inspiring staffers.

It’s a chock-full, beautifully balanced camp experience kids love. Learn more about a typical day at Galileo Summer Quest.

 

MAKE SOMETHING AMAZING.

Over the course of one week, Galileo Summer Quest campers create highly evolved go-karts, comic strips, signature dishes, fashion designs, short films, video games.

But what happens inside our campers is even more important. They learn how it feels to have a vision. Then they apply specialized tools and techniques and participate in a community of kindred collaborators to bring their idea to life.

The impact of this experience is profound. It leaves campers with supreme confidence and a boldness of vision worthy of Galileo himself.

video: inside galileo summer quest

Find more videos in our Video Archive.

our secret sauce:
the galileo innovation approach

We’re on a mission to develop innovators who envision and create a better world. We do it by teaching campers to understand and apply the Galileo Innovation Approach—or the “G.I.A.,” as we sometimes like to call it.

The GIA is inspired by the innovation process developed at the Stanford d.school.
We took some of their fundamental ideas, added our own, then adapted it for kids
from pre-K through 8th grade, when they’re especially open to absorbing new
ways to think, explore and create.

These are the three components of the Galileo Innovation Approach:

1. The Innovator’s Mindset:
How Galileo innovators approach the world

I am Visionary

  •     I envision a better world
  •     I imagine things that don’t exist yet
  •     I believe it’s my place to turn ideas into reality

I am Courageous

  •     I freely share my creative thoughts
  •     I stretch myself to try new things
  •     I embrace challenges

    I am Collaborative

  •     I value the unique perspectives of others
  •     I build on the ideas of others
  •     I use my strengths to support the work of others

I am Determined

  •     I persevere until I achieve my goal
  •     I recognize setbacks as opportunities to learn
  •     I know that innovation and mastery require effort

I am Reflective

  •     I take time to think about what is and isn’t working in my design
  •     I think about how my work impacts other people and the world
  •     I seek feedback to improve myself and my work

 

2. Innovator’s Knowledge:
What Galileo innovators need to understand

Concepts and Facts:

  •     The big ideas, principles and facts relevant to their work

Historical Context:

  •     The contributions of relevant movements, artists, scientists, designers and other experts who came before them

Skills and Techniques:

  •     How to use materials, tools and technology that allow them to effectively create, test and share their ideas

Audience and Environment:

  •     The needs and circumstances of their users and the physical context in which their work will be received

 

3. The Innovator’s Process:
How Galileo innovators innovate