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November 2023 by J.L.
2022 Update:My son began 1st grade at our public school. He was punched in the face on Day 2, then again and again. After numerous conversations with school leadership and program leadership, the child was never removed. In a matter of 2 months, my son was severely bullied. The extremely high turnover still exists, with many high school and college-aged workers openly complaining about the lack of support from management. I immediately removed my son from aftercare programming, and essentially transferred him back into private school due to the inability for school leadership to take accountability and improve services for their students.Signed my 5 year old up for summer camp at their Chicago Ridge location and had a terrible first two days' experience, I immediately removed my son from the program and reach out to the CEO and VP. After several failed attempts to discuss my concerns with leadership, the VP reached out to me and reassured me that my experience was out of the norm, which included, little to no supervision of children, understaffing, to name a few. Luckily, my monies were refunded and I am sure this was just a bad experience with their site director at a new site. I just wasn't comfortable keeping my small child there while they worked some kinks out and handled their personnel issues.
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October 2023 by Susan Bertoletti
Ms J and Ms Erin are wonderful! Very happy with the after school care so far this year
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October 2023 by Shamone Gaston
My Daughter attends the Lyle site she loves this program !!!! :)
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October 2023 by Katrese Joyce
My kids attend the Mt Greenwood location and they absolutely love the staff! Ms J definitely watches and pays attention to the kids and what's going on. I appreciate that she looks after the kids as if they're her own. There is also a new lady (red hair, I keep forgetting her name) who is super nice and sweet. My girls are always disappointed when it's time to leave! Great job ladies!!!
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September 2023 by Cameron Stockton
My experiences in the beginning were not good. I talked to Christina who was very nice and considerate and assuring the issues with the call center would be addressed. Really appreciate that!!!The girls on site are super nice and good with kids, my son does enjoy going.
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September 2023 by Vicky Riley
This program has been fantastic. All the staff have been amazing keeping the kids busy, happy & safe. Highly recommend for anyone that needs child care during the summer time. My daughter has been to the pool more at summer camp than she has her whole life lol. Very grateful to everyone there and will definitely be signing her up again next year!
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August 2023 by Brittany G
We had the best time for my daughters 7th birthday party! Very reasonably priced and the staff was amazing! Thank you Christina and Justin! You two were the biggest help and great with the kids!
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August 2023 by Renee Osbrink
Ivy League has been wonderful for our son at the Manteno location for both summer camp and aftercare during the school year. The staff is well organized, creative and caring. Our son cannot say enough about Miss Cyann and we love how Sam as well as Cyann & Christina are so sweet and attentive to the kids as well as freely communicate with the parents. They always have a great plan for each day that goes beyond just running around outside until pickup. They have cool stem activities, crafts, games, and even homework time if needed during the school year. Summer is filled with many adventures along with swimming and a weekly cookout. I have to be honest and say that last year we tried a cheaper summer camp at the Y and what a difference this summer has been. Ivy League is hands down worth every penny!!!!
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August 2023 by Kristyn Grandys
Ivy League Summer Camp in Manteno is AMAZING. The counselors do an incredible job and keep the kiddos safe. Ms. Sam, Ms. Christina, Ms. Cyann, Ms. Kendal, Ms. Addie and Mr. Joe are the best. My child absolutely LOVES waking up early and going to camp. He is upset with me if he misses!!!! Between the crafty activities, splash valley, ice skating, movies, BBQ's in the park, Splash pads, etc, my kiddo is whooped. This is a great summer camp that every kid of all ages would love. Look into it, you will not be disappointed.
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August 2023 by Rachel Santiago
I wish I would have listened to all of the other one star reviews listed on Google. The summer program at Chicago Ridge is the worst experience I’ve ever received in childcare. Not only is the staff, extremely young and an unqualified to deal with the multiple age groups that are advertised on Ivy League‘s website, but they’re also extremely unprofessional. Not one of them introduce themselves When new parents are walking into the building, I had to ask every them what their names were. In addition, every time I walked in the building they’re on their phones not watching the kids. If they don’t like how your child is behaving, they just simply suspend or expel them from the program leaving you without any type of child care at the last minute. My child was called a “Project” by their administrator along with other children in the program who they stated were “too young” for their staff to handle. Do yourself a favor and find a quality program as the staff here I’m not sure has ever worked with children before or have had any type of training.
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July 2023 by Maya
Former student of this year. HORRIBLE and young staff, bullying issues, cliques, and a lot of other issues. I was the target of the ant issue that another mother was talking about. They did in fact have an ant issue and people tried to make it seem like it came from MY home which is just ridiculous. 11-12 year olds sexualizing the younger children which was just unacceptable. And I will not be wanting to return to this camp until a more older and responsible management takes over. This is just a K-8 over glorified daycare.
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July 2023 by R Wright
Giving it 2 stars because my son didn’t complain but I would NEVER use this camp again especially not at the Flossmoor Community Church. And to the other reviewer who said people must be desperate for a sitter-no we aren’t. We were desperate to find a fun-filled, safe place for our kids to enjoy a summer camp & meet new people in our community. Cost didn’t matter. This camp failed miserably. Each day I was kind of holding my breath thinking what’s going to happen. They didn’t manage the younger kids to my satisfaction including not ensuring they had & actually took water breaks and reapplied sunscreen as they said they would. Overall the activities seemed basic & just a step above free play for hours. The weekly BBQ as they advertise it only applies to kids who participate in their $7 a day food program. Each week-he went 3wks total-my kid was asking for money for various field trips but there was no way to actually manage it. I sent money 1x for ice cream at the pool & entrusted it to the person in charge who then forgot to bring his $$ to the pool. My son was given free ice cream but the person in charge allegedly gave the $$ back to my son when they returned to the church. Needless to say we never saw the $$ again & I never sent $$ again. Why would she give it to him when I didn’t give to him? The final straw was the last week he went he complained of not feeling well before noon & told a camp counselor he wasn’t feeling well but he was dismissed like it was no big deal. They went to the park for 2hrs & my son didn’t drink any water because his bottle was empty & he had no way to refill it(see above about hydration). When they returned to the church he told them he still wasn’t feeling well & that he was burning up so they called me to pick him up at 3:30PM. His temperature was 102 when we got home. Keep in mind it was 87++degrees last week. Clearly he truly wasn’t feeling well & then to have him out there with zero hydration. Awful. It was just so many little things like this that didn’t sit well with us. It felt chaotic & just haphazard. Never saw a one craft or anything he worked on or made. Never saw a one picture in the 3wks he was there. Don’t recommend it.
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July 2023 by J Andrews
If you love your children, DO NOT send them to Ivy League Summer Camps. My daughter attended for only two days at the Flossmoor location, and that was enough for us. There are bullying issues, the children are thrown together with little supervision, and the camp counselors are young and incompetent. The children eat lunch on the floor, which should be illegal. How is this okay????My daughter left her backpack near a vent on the floor in the community house where the children eat, and ants had overtaken her backpack and crawled into her lunch box. Naturally, she was horrified. She was given another lunch, but that didn't replace the money we paid for her Subway sandwich that day. The counselors had the nerve to insinuate that the ants may have already been in my daughter's lunchbox, which was not only insulting, but it was totally ridiculous. My daughter said she saw an ant on the floor before they left for the field trip that day, so the ants had hours to find and indulge in my child's lunch. No doubt there is an ant problem, as the children have to eat on the filthy floor!!!! I had no plans of subjecting her to this place another day, and she did not want to return.This camp has a bad reputation (which I learned about too late). I believe they remove the bad reviews online. Many people seem to know that this place is bad news whenever I asked around after this experience.Apparently, this camp was good years ago, but many changes have taken place, and now it is horrible. Whatever you do, AVOID this camp. It is a bait and switch and should be shut down!!!I guess people must be reallydesperate for childcare because sending children here is a big mistake.
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June 2023 by Jennifer Marek
We had our daughter's 5th birthday party at Ivy League Kids earlier this year. We loved it. We rented out the whole gym for her party, and it was perfect. We were provided with two staff members who helped us set up and clean up, but most importantly, they played with the kids! They monitored the kids in the bouncy house, they organized little games, brought out scooters and hula hoops, etc. Very accommodating and we got so many questions from the parents 'How did you find this place?!'. Definitely would recommend.
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March 2023 by Colleen Salzman
We just had my son’s 7th birthday here. Mr. Justin was wonderful! He got the kids playing games and was so helpful! They were able to use the bounce house and play sports. Definitely would recommend them to everyone for a party. The kids had a great time!
