Wave Week welcomes middle and high school students who are entering grades 7 through 12 in the 2024 – 2025 school year. We offer multiple tracks for participants to return year after year to continue to build upon their leadership skills.

Wave Week is held on the campus of Villanova University in Villanova, PA. Villanova is located outside of Philadelphia on the Main Line, close to major highways and easy to access. The state-of-the-art campus will be our home for the week. We sleep in the dorms, eat in the cafeteria, use event space, and attend seminars in real college classrooms. Wave Week gives a fantastic look into college life for anyone interested in pursuing higher education in the future.

• Effective communication
• Group leadership
• Motivating team members
• Service event planning and marketing
• Group dynamics and motivation
• Increasing community impact
• Fundraising and budget planning
• Conflict resolution
• Diversity awareness
• Personal and group evaluation
• Presentation skills
• Creativity
• Understanding and managing your personal strengths and weaknesses
• Confidence to know that young people can and do make a difference!

Wave Week is a unique peer-learning environment in which the staff is composed of experienced high school and college student leaders as well as professionals in fields such as business coaching, education, and non-profit management. We are proud that 100% of our staff volunteer their time to ensure an incredible Wave Week experience. In addition, almost all of our staff members are Wave Week alumni!  We keep the lecturing to a minimum and teach most of the concepts through a range of small group activities and discussions.

There is no average participant at Wave Week! Spark the Wave prides itself on recruiting a diverse mix of participants and staff. Our participants come to us from a broad geographic, demographic, and economic pool. We have found that exposing teens to young leaders from varied backgrounds creates a more comprehensive and dynamic learning environment. This diversity prepares teens for real-world experiences and helps to develop their communication and team-building skills.

Absolutely! We encourage participants to register with classmates or siblings so they can work on their service projects together when they get home. Not to worry if you’re coming solo – plenty of people do, and you will make lifelong friendships once you arrive! Please note that attending with a friend or family member does not guarantee that you’ll be placed in the same groups throughout the week. There is plenty of free time and social events to hang together, and we’d love for you to meet and work with some new people, too!

Head over to www.sparkthewave.org/register to get started.