idtech: Alexa Cafe

We were quite disappointed in Alexa Café all-​girls computer programming camp at Bryn Mawr, despite being drawn to the idea of it. Ultimately, it seems like a chain that is part-​gloss, only part-​substance. It’s a pity, as we are confident that girls can have a great time computer programming. We were so disturbed, we sent many substantial suggestions for improvement to idtech. My daughter, who I pushed to be as fair as she can be in her review, has this to say:
Alexa Café is an excellent idea, but they have not been able to pull it off. I learned nothing from this experience. The food was terrible: no variety, nothing fresh, low quality food. This was fine on the first day, but I got sick of so much junk food. We never exercised, except for the last day, when my favorite counselor was in charge. They only took age, not interests or personality, into account when they arranged roommates, and even my age didn’t match with my roommate’s. I am sorry to say, the majority of the counselors acted uninterested and dull. The computer that I started my project on crashed on the second day, and I had to start over. We got a hair tie, a blank autograph book, a T-​shirt and a bag – but I went away knowing nothing more than I knew before. Out of the 13 people I talked to during the session, none of them were thrilled to be there, and more than 7 were counting the hours until they got home (literally). Only one counselor, who wasn’t even supposed to work at Alexa Café (she came from an iD Tech camp nearby to fill in for another sick counselor, who came in the middle of the week and who was as antisocial as the rest), and the kids, who I connected with, kept me from calling my parents to take me home. When I got back home and followed my new friends on Instagram, I discovered that one of them (out of 13) actually goes to my school, something we should’ve found out on the first day if idtech had cared more about «getting to know each other.»
Update: After emailing idtech with the above criticism and then suggestions, two Idtech employees called to hear us out on the experience and ultimately made the determination to refund the tuition by the end of summer 2015.