Our Mission

Our mission is simple: to inspire the personal best in high potential young people. We believe everyone, with the right support and encouragement, is high potential and capable of amazing things. Our job is to place opportunities in front of them so they can continue to cultivate the greatness inside of themselves. We believe those opportunites are best acted on in a culture that celebrates each unique individual.

When we say we inspire every individual’s personal best, we’re not playing around. Well, actually we are. We believe the power of play is one of the most effective ways to bring out each and every personal best. Every camper is unique and every “best” is, too. For us, summer is a time for exploration. Our experience shows that guided exploration leads to the realization of untapped passion and talent.

And when that happens during the most memorable time in a person’s life? Well, we believe the possibilities for the future are limitless. For over 20 years, we’ve been creating programs that inspire children, young people and adults to courageously engage with the world, celebrate the challenges that come with trying hard things, and meet every opportunity and every setback with persistence, patience and a positive attitude.

We do this work because we believe in the profound value of social and emotional learning to equip our participants with the power to spark inspiration and unlock potential. We have developed a set of tools that we call the Headfirst Super Six to teach these valuable lessons. They aren’t just any tools; they’re character building social skills that are highly correlated to success and leadership. The Headfirst Super Six are Resiliency, Hope & Goal Setting, Optimism, Emotional Mastery, Grit & Determination and Self-Efficacy.

Whether it’s a STEM lesson in Summer Camp, performing at the Vatican or objective measurements in Honor Roll Camps, we build these tools into each and every curriculum. And, we hope that in partnership with families, we are playing a small, but valuable role in helping our members achieve success so they can be the absolute best version of their future selves.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion,
& Belonging

Our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging (“DEIB”) Commitment 

The Headfirst Companies is committed to cultivating a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging that transforms our workplaces and experiences into environments where everyone can discover their personal best.  

Why It Matters: We believe embracing individual uniqueness is an essential element of our mission, and that maintaining a diversity of cultures, backgrounds, and life experiences among our team, partners, and clients is a core measure of our success. 

To guide our efforts, we focus on a series of commitments that act as the pillars of our DEIB initiatives. We commit to: 

– Equitable Hiring and Retention Processes 
– Policies, Processes and Goals that Embrace Individual Uniqueness 
– Experiences and Marketing Practices that Value Inclusivity 
– The Accessibility of Our Programs 
– Prioritizing Connection, Community, & Service
– Continued Professional Development on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging topics  

Driven by our internal DEIB Working Group, these pillars are embedded into our everyday work across The Headfirst Companies.   

Leading the Charge: Our DEIB Working Group 

Our Working Group is comprised of four subcommittees, representing team members from KI Concerts, Headfirst Professional Sports Camps, Headfirst Summer Camps, Showcase Camps, and Headfirst Corporate. Each subcommittee’s unique focus area contributes to the accountability and advancement of our goals. 

The People Operations & Belonging (“POBs”) subcommittee reviews policies for inclusion and plans team culture initiatives to promote community.    

– Highlights include: Secret Snowflake, our Why Wall, and the New-to-Headfirst Orientation Program. 

The Professional Development & Education subcommittee assesses and executes against team DEIB training needs and interests. We facilitate professional development in-house, as well as invite special guest experts.  

– We’re proud to partner with S’more Summer for ongoing coaching and collaboration on DEIB training. 

The SLIDE Subcommittee – standing for “Support, Lead, Invest, Donate, and Empower” – champions our community impact.  We devote 1% of corporate time, annually, to give back to our communities through organizations such as A Wider Circle and Martha’s Table. 

 – We’re also a multi-year presenting sponsor of the ChadTough Defeat DIPG Superhero 6k! 

The Steering Subcommittee leads the administrative charge and strategic vision of the group, ensuring continued assessment, investment, and prioritization of DEIB initiatives across the organization.