Padre Island Surf Camp, Corpus Christi

Founded by two graduates of Texas A&M’s Corpus Christi campus, Padre Island Surf Club caters to all levels of surfers, from first-timers to tube-riding competitors in the Texas Gulf Surfing Association. Instructors maintain a 4:1 student-to-teacher ratio during youth surf camps, tailoring their lessons to campers between the ages of 5 and 17. The team also organizes girls’ and women’s camps and after-school programs that reinforce basic math concepts by requiring students to count the sum total of each day’s high-fives.

When they aren’t building campers’ self-esteem through lessons that become more challenging with each new skill mastered, instructors turns kids loose to have fun with kayaks and standup paddleboards and even schedule trips to the Texas State Aquarium. Padre Island Surf Club’s educational efforts have earned them sponsorships from top industry companies such as Billabong, Kustom, and Surfline.