Camp Foster YMCA

Camp Foster YMCA Spirit Lake, IA October 24, 2012 www.ymcaoftheokobojis.com/campfoster

At Foster we were greeted by Ryan, he is the day camp director as well as the director of off season groups. We later met Patrick who is the resident camp program director. Both guys were super willing to share with us the cool things about their jobs and the unique place they work. Camp Foster just celebrated its hundred year anniversary and in the basement of their dining hall they have memorialized some of camps past and its history in a museum like room filled with a running video, shelves of artifacts, and a catalog of pictures all depicting what camp Foster is all about. One of the exciting parts of Foster we thought was unique was their low ropes course. Legend has it that a dragon sleeps beneath their course and so as a result there is an obstacle course like feel to the area. What a cool way to engage younger kids. Foster has also just realized Patrick’s dream of having a Paint ball course. We got to walk around the barracks and the battle field and let me tell you it looks like a loads of fun.

Laura

Camp Hantesa

Camp Hantesa Boone, IA October 22, 2012 www.campfireusaia.org/CampHantesa_About.php

Our experience at Hantesa was shaped by the warm welcoming we received from the staff. We first arrived and Will, one of the co-directors, cooked us dinner that we had a chance to sit and eat with, Laura Peterson, the other co-director, Sarge and Gonzo, the interns, and Abbie, the director of the 4H camp down the road. Laura Peterson and Will took us on a great tour of camp the next day and it was clear Hantesa is a camp steeped in tradition. A tradition Laura had a chance to become a small part of as she painted murals in the dining hall that depicted the awards campers and staff can achieve at camp. First campers can become Gypsies for displaying general outdoor living skills, then Voyagers for demonstrating the ability to succeed on wilderness journeys, and finally staff members that show great dedication to Hantesa can join the Vagabonds. While Laura painted the murals it was great for me to get a chance to get to know Gonzo, who hung out with us as Laura painted and I washed her brushes. Gonzo had some great stories to tell us about Hantesa as well as his road trip adventures, and will be someone who we won’t soon forget. We have since learned his real name.

Jack

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YMCA Camp Benson

YMCA Camp Benson Mount Carrol, IL October 22, 2012 ymcacampbenson.org

Cory Harrison, the director at Camp Benson left such an impression on Jack and I. After walking around with Cory all morning as he showed us the grounds and shared his vision for camp with us, and then while we sat at the town diner for lunch, cory had us entranced by his focus, opinions, determination, and camping philosophy. After only being at Camp Benson for 18 months Cory had a handle on the culture and traditions that were part of the foundations of Benson, as well as how to mold the program and the staff in a way that would keep Benson moving in a unique and powerful direction. Cory shared with us his vision for an outdoor fort, or destination spot on the outskirts of camps property. A place for kids to go camp out, to learn to cook outdoors and acquire other skills like shelter building, plus human size jenga and other campy game. Camp Benson is already based on adventure, try rock climing, repelling down cliff walls, rafting cave exploring, and crate climbing on for size!

Laura

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YMCA Camp Piomingo

YMCA Camp Piomingo Brandenburg, KY October 18, 2012 www.ymcacamppiomingo.org

Joey is the interim executive director at Piomingo, but after walking around camp with him we would vote him in permanently. It is obvious his passion and love for the place and for the mission of summer camp. Piomingo is located in Kentucky close to Fort Knox and with in walking distance of the Ohio River. A walk that Jack and I got to take, after winding through the woods for a while a clearing opens and there is a gigantic reveine that cradles the Ohio river. The view is spectacular. Joey says that when counselors bring young campers out they tell them that across the river is Australia and that that farm looking set of buildings is a just an Australian camp. Campers count to three and then yell HELLO across the valley, only to be echoed by an OIE! from down under! This is really the spirit of Piomingo, Joey had a good way of summing it up, camp for them is based on relationships, the relationships forged and fostered between staff and camper. Its all about the role model and the inspiration and confidence that a relationship with someone older and in authority can have on a camper.

Laura

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YMCA Camp Ernst

YMCA Camp Ernst Burlington, KY October 17, 2012 www.myycamp.org

Camp Ernst is located on a beautiful property in Ohio that has all of the classic summer camp amenities. A lake, a high ropes course, a sweet slide underground, some beautiful rustic cabins and traditions that have held true over generations. For example their dining hall is decorated with hundreds of sparkling silver mugs, each unscripted with a campers name that one the honor camper award for that week. It sound like memories are defiantly a take away at Ernst, between their camp band Pink Splash that has a weekly debut every opening campfire, and the weekly Man Night where boys at camp can cook out over an open fire and play as much gaga and dodgeball as their little hearts desire, it sounds like camp would make an impression on any kid.

Laura

YMCA Camp Kern

YMCA Camp Kern Oregonia, OH October 17, 2012 www.campkern.org

This camp completely changed everything. Jack and I were floored by their nothing is impossible attitude and the magical creativity that echoed through the place even during the off season. The Camp program director/ summer camp director Mike Costlow walked us around ( we met him at a ACA cluster meeting that we attended with Eli the camp director we were staying with at Ernst.) We ate lunch with Mike, his wife and 2 cute kids, the horse director, and Jeff. Jeff is the Executive director and he is the driving force behind a lot of the brilliance at Kern. He has built things no one else has even dreamed up yet, a pretty cool guy. Dave Bell described him as the Steve Jobs of the camp world, seems like a pretty apt description. Camp Kern had so much to offer in terms of toys and facilities but what we loved more than anything was the pride Mike took in his staff saying, “If I had Kern staff, a tarp, and some kids in a field those kids would still have the best camp experience”

Laura