Displaying items by tag: wisconsin summer camp
Hey there! I've been the Camp Director at Swift Nature Camp for nearly three decades, and something I've always wondered about is why campers keep coming back each year. Sure, I've asked them, and I usually get the typical responses like "Mom made me" or "it's fun," but I'm still curious about the deeper reasons. Lately, I've been on a mission to chat with adults who attended Swift Nature Camp or other camps to understand how they feel now about their camp experiences and what drew them back each year to a summer camp in Wisconsin. Here's a list of some of the answers I've gathered!
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Freedom and Independence: It might have been the first time away from home for an extended period. This newfound independence can be thrilling and memorable.
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Bonding and Friendships: Camp often creates an environment where strong bonds are formed. The shared experiences, activities, and communal living often lead to lifelong friendships.
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Adventure and Activities: Camps are filled with various activities—sports, arts and crafts, hiking, campfires, etc. These experiences often are New and can be adventurous, exhilarating, and often unique to camp life.
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Nature and Disconnecting: Being in nature without the distractions of technology can be refreshing. It forces campers to appreciate the outdoors and disconnect from the digital world, creating lasting memories of simplicity and natural beauty.
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Nostalgia: Memories of summer camp as a kid. These moments of being carefree, fun times, and reminiscing often evoke a strong sense of nostalgia and happiness.
- It's truly remarkable how these adult responses echo the same sentiments I heard from them as kids. The consistency in how activities and nature have remained unchanged is incredible. But what's even more remarkable is that the feelings the kids had while at camp, those emotions, enthusiasm, and joy, they're still very much alive in these adults today. It's this enduring connection that solidifies for me why I'm so passionate about being involved in childrens summer camp.
- If you would like to learn more, please reach out
Jeff Lorenz
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As the sun sets on another unforgettable summer, Swift Nature Camp in Wisconsin has reason to celebrate. The 2023 camp season marked a triumphant return to normalcy, free from the shadows of COVID-19. With a record-breaking turnout, it became the second-largest summer in the camp's history. Swift Nature Camp's dedication to outdoor education and fostering a love for nature shone brightly as campers reveled in the joy of camaraderie, adventure, and learning in the great outdoors.
Back to Normal: A Victory Over COVID-19
The summer of 2023 will forever be remembered as the season that saw Swift Nature Camp rise above the challenges posed by the global pandemic. After two long years of uncertainty and limitations, the camp community, staff, and campers came together to make this summer unforgettable.
Swift Nature Camp took COVID-19 seriously from the outset. Comprehensive safety measures, including vaccination requirements for staff and regular testing, masking, and sanitizing, ensured that the camp was a safe environment for all. The commitment to safety allowed campers and their families to feel confident in returning to camp, knowing that their well-being was the top priority.
A Remarkable Turnout
The 2023 summer season will go down in Swift Nature Camp's history books as the second-largest in its storied past. Campers from all over the country flocked to this haven of adventure and learning, eager to make up for lost time. The camp's ability to provide a safe, nurturing, and exciting environment once again underscored its importance as a hub of childhood growth and development.
Swift Nature Camp prides itself on its diverse range of activities and programs designed to spark curiosity, build confidence, and foster a deep connection to nature. From hiking and kayaking to arts and crafts, every camper had the opportunity to discover new passions and make lasting memories.
Building Friendships and Memories
One of the hallmarks of this overnight summer camp is the sense of community it fosters. Campers and staff alike come together to create an environment where lifelong friendships are forged, and memories are cherished. The 2023 season was no exception, with campers building connections that transcended the camp's picturesque setting.
In an era where screen time often dominates childhood experiences, Swift Nature Camp offers a refreshing alternative. Campers had the chance to unplug, immerse themselves in the beauty of the natural world, and engage in activities that enriched their lives. Whether it was spotting wildlife during a nature hike, conquering a fear of heights on the ropes course, or simply sharing stories around a campfire, campers relished the opportunity to connect with both their peers and the environment.
Looking Ahead
As Swift Nature Camp bids farewell to another incredible summer, the future shines brightly. The resilience displayed in overcoming the challenges of COVID-19 has reaffirmed the camp's commitment to providing exceptional outdoor experiences. Campers and their families can eagerly anticipate many more summers filled with adventure, learning, and growth.
Swift Nature Camp's 2023 season will be remembered as a testament to the enduring spirit of community and the boundless joy of exploring the natural world. It serves as a reminder that even in the face of adversity, the bonds of friendship, the wonders of nature, and the joy of childhood can prevail.
Swift Nature Camp's summer of 2023 was not just a return to normalcy; it was a triumph over adversity. With record-breaking attendance, a commitment to safety, and a diverse range of activities, campers and staff alike reveled in the joy of being together once more. As the sun sets on this remarkable season, Swift Nature Camp looks ahead to a future filled with even more adventure, growth, and unforgettable memories in the summer of 2024. Registration has already begun. Summer Camp Enrolment for 2024.
Summer camp is a special place it give children a place to call home that is less structured has less pressure than their home routines of school and sports. Plus it gives kids a chance to experience life in a screen free zone, just like the olden days. Yet when an overnight summer camp has an environmental Education focus, camp doubles up its value to campers and parents alike.
At Swift Nature Camp is an environmental education summer camp in Wisconsin that is rooted in fun with nearly 50 different land and water activities its hard not to have fun. Learning new skills in a non competitive fun way allows each child to participate at their level and try to better themselves. To give children autonomy, camp daily gives children the opportunity to select the activities that they want to do that day. So in a way a camper get to create their own camp experience rather than having adults give them a schedule. Kind of like the old days when chidden could just go outside and play.
Our campers love nature and environmental studies, so at Swift Nature Camp we blend camp activities with outdoor education along with summer fun. Our goal is to have our campers uses an exploration to developing an hands on appreciation and understanding of the natural world in Wisconsin that is right outside their cabin door. .Our interactive activities utilize scientific skills of discovery, observation and investigation. Yet what are campers love is our Nature Center and Camp zoo. Here many native animals are kept as well as other small pets. Campers even have the opportunity to adopt an animal while they are at camp. These critters are for learning responsibilities and animal care.
Our daily environmental classes seeks to teach campers about human impact on the environment and to be aware of how they are connected to nature. This individual responsibility is the key to teaching children about conservation. our hydroponic garden project is special because the campers help catch the fish that help verbalize the plants living in the garden, this interaction helps make the concepts stick. SNC
Not only do campers learn Environmental Education but this overnight summer camp in Wisconsin let's children learn skills in personal relationship building. Kindness and understanding are the corner stone to cabin life, helping to insure team-building and cooperation. To learn more about Environmental Education in Wisconsin
Ramblings of a Camp Director
It was 1966 and it was my first year at Camp Minocqua, a boys camp in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Dr. John P. Sprague, founded Camp Minocqua for Boys in 1905 on Tomahawk Lake. The history of camp was part of the camp culture. Historically, camp was designed to taking young boys out of the cities and the finer things in life and allowing us boys to live out in nature with others boys, while our counselors just seemed like older brothers.
Such was the beginning of residential boys camps in America. Later camps for girls were established by the Girl Scouts of America and Camp Fire girls. Sleepaway summer camps continued round World War I when many charities opened summer camps for working-class children giving them a chance to get a way from urban life.
Anyway, here I was at a residential camp where I would be staying for 7 weeks, that was a long time away from my parents. Was I ready? Absolutely not. I cried often during those first few weeks and when the storms came I was even more scared. But, I made friends that I still remember today, maybe better than my school friends. Camp gave me a chance to make decisions without my parents. Some were good and made me feel great, like when I got to name the sailboat “Stormy Weather”. Others were not so good and resulted in me taking a bite out of a bar of Ivory soap. But they were my decisions and the natural consequence fell where they would. From this independence I learned that when I make decisions and fail, I learn more than when my decisions result in success.
I returned to Camp Minocqua for 7 summers giving me almost one complete year living at camp. So I guess it was not all that surprising when at the age of 38 I got this idea to start a summer camp. Shortly there after I opened Swift Nature Camp. Yes, some of camp Minocqua’s history can be seen at SNC but times have changed and so has the overnight summer camp experience. No longer is Ivory soap cut in wedges nor are kids left unsupervised. No, Swift Nature Camp is an intentional place, filled with support and encouragement, a place that comforts children on their journey to adult hood. We help give kids the skills they need to be productive parts of society. Sleepaway camp should be part of every child’s summer.
- Parents & Campers,
- When selecting a summer camp it is import that you pick the right summer camp for you. Sure all camps have fancy summer camp websites, but often you may have particular questions you you want to ask in person, Summer Camp Opportunity Fairs (Camp Expos) offer just such an chance. Below is a list camp fairs we will be attending in Wisconsin and Illinois. . So f you want to learn more about camp come see us or if you are an alumni please stop by and say "HI". We are always happy to talk about camp.
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PLACES TO FIND SWIFT NATURE CAMP THIS SPRING
FEBRUARY 7th,
Summer Recreation Open House, York Community High School, Elmhurst, IL, 6pm to 8pm
- FEBRUARY 13th,
Fox Vally Summer Activities Fair, Wredling Middle School, 1200 Dunham Rd., St. Charles, IL, 6pm to 8pm - FEBRUARY 25th,
CampExpo at Sunset Ridge School 525 Sunset Ridge Northfield Il. 10am to 2pm - FEBRUARY 25th,
Minnesota Parent Camp Fair, Como Zoo & Conservatory, St. Paul, MN, 10am to 2pm (will not attend but will have brochures there) - MARCH 6th,
Stratford Middle School Summer Activities Fair, Stratford Middle School, Bloomingdale, IL, 6pm-8pm - MARCH 9th,
District 181 Summer Camp Expo, Clarendon Hills Prospect School, 100 N. Prospect Ave., Clarendon Hills, IL, 6pm-8:30pm - MARCH 13th,
STAGE 203 Summer Activities Fair, Kennedy Junior High School, Lisle, IL, 6pm to 8pm - MARCH 21st,
Indian Prairie Summer Activities Fair, Still Middles School, 787 Meadowridge Dr., Aurora, IL, 6pm to 8pm
WITHOUT THE COMFORTS
BY BEVERLY PLUMMER
Reprinted from the 1965 Chicago Tribune, Camp Minocqua for Boys is featured in the article and is the summer camp that Jeff Lorenz is an alumni of from 1966-1972. He went on to found Swift Nature Camp in 1997.
Television, telephones, and mother-love are all great things. In the winter, of course, but next summer, more than 4 million school age youngsters will trade them for tents, rain, poison Ivy and unforgettable times,
IT GETS COLDER and colder. The rain comes down like the sky is broken. The tent leaks all night and breakfast is bread and rain water eaten under the picnic table.
Is this "Ah, Wilderness!" or "Aaarg, Wilderness!"? Only the boy or girl scrunched damply under the table can tell you. But chances are [even tho it had to be said thru chat- tering teeth] he d say it was GREAT! For this wet, cold, shivering youngster is one of 4 million school-age American children who look forward ea- to camp every summer. Why should a child be so anx- ious to go to camp that he s willing to go without six months' allowance to help foot the bill? Or get up at a snowy 5:30 a. m. to deliver the morn- ing papers so he can buy a new snorkel for camp?
It's not the creature comforts he s seeking-that s for sure. For comforts such as television, telephones, and five-course dinners are better provided at home than on a 100-acre tract of trees and bushes.
Actually what this child is seeking, even if he s not con- aware of it, is a sense of adventure. A chance to be a conqueror rather than a spectator. An opportunity to create
his own security in a strange atmosphere. And where, in to- day s chrome-plated world, can a child find such an opportunity except in the wilderness?
As an American, he still has something of the early pioneer in his bones-the pioneer who slew his own dinner, stitched up his britches, and then fought off the enemy before he went to bed.
A note from a city-bred 14- year-old to his parents last year states proudly, "Besides clearing three campsites out of the bush, setting up a compass course, and assisting the surveyor map the boundary lines of camp, we got to help skin a 125-pound bear and cut logs for a new kitchen floor." This glowing letter was written by a lad who lived 10 stories up in a plush apartment where a maid laid out his clothing every morning!
There have been camps of one kind or another almost from the beginning of America -even the first settlers were campers of a sort The first organized camps began to appear on the east coast as early as the 1860s, but it wasn't until the very late iBO0s that camping grabbed a really firm foothold for itself. It was evidently firm enough, for today there are more than 13,500 organized camps scattered thruout the United States.
The first organized camp in the midwest was started by a young doctor. [just graduated from Northwestern university medical school] following the worst typhoid fever epidemic Chicago has ever known. Dr. John Perley Sprague had been raised in the lumbering country of Maine and had never quite got used to the ways of the city. It bothered him that so many children were growing up with no intimate knowledge of nature, so in April, 1903, he set out for upper Wisconsin be- fore the ice was even out of the rivers and lakes to find a spot to set up a camp.
What he finally settled on was a point on Lake Toma- hawk near Minocqua, which still stands today and is still in operation under the direction of his daughter, Helen, and son-in-law, Jack Broomell. Boys who go to Camp Minocqua today board the train at Chicago s North Western station
and arrive at camp about eight. hours later.
The 15 campers who went north with Doctor Sprague in 1903 were not so fortunate; but when this story is told, many a boy declares he'd give his right arm to have been in that first group.
"We took a train from Chicago," Doctor Sprague wrote CAMP For City-Dwellers: A Place in the Open In camp craft classes such as bowl-making, boys can create with their own hands.
in his notes, "and when we woke up in the morning, we had only gone about 200 miles be- cause a bridge had washed out. It seems there was a lot of flooding that year. There was no diner on the train and they took the sleeper off, too. During the afternoon they fixed up the bridge and we went on, only to be stopped again when the tracks disappeared under water at the Wisconsin river. But they decided to try it and we got across and kept right on going to Mosinee, where the tracks were under water again. And we had to stop once more."
At 4 the next morning, Doc- tor Sprague got everybody off the train and they got up a game of baseball in the grass beside the tracks. Hungry to the desperation point, they finally found a boarding house cook who fixed breakfast for them for a hatful of coins that had been collected. The rest of the trip was made partly by box car and partly by hand-car.
"Finally," Doctor Sprague said, "an engine came down from the north and picked us up and on the third day we finally got there."
Camp Minocqua is much the same today in spirit as it was 60 years ago; the ultimate aim of its directors always has been to provide the child with a natural atmosphere in which he can grow in all directions. This is the aim of all good camps today.
"There was no 'baby-sitting' in those days," Helen Broomell says. "It was primarily an opportunity for boys to spend the summer out-of-doors . . . it wasn't even supposed to be a 'character-building' experience except as the good influence of the men rubbed off on. the boys."
Camp Minocquafor Boys would be classified today as an "all-around" camp with a good solid emphasis on individual growth, altho the program includes a liberal choice of everything you might consider important to camping: riding, sailing, crafts, archery, etc.
There are so many camps today which, altho they maintain social orientation as the ultimate goal, are highly specialized . A few examples: folk- singing camps, language-of- your-choice camps, all-sports camps where a child chooses one major and one minor sport and works on proficiency in these areas all summer long. There are pioneer camps, camps for the psychologically disturbed, riding camps, and tours-of-Israel camps.
The rivalry between different types of camps is much like the rivalry between competing high schools. One group of boys came back from a visit to a neighboring camp with these words of disgust: "It's a chicken camp. Everybody wore identical T-shirts, and there were these 'Gung ho' loud speakers that blasted out instructions all day long - just like in the movies. All the one had to do was sit on their duffs while 'big brother' told them what to do over the loud speaker."
CAMP-The Counselor Must Love Children. Nature was like downtown New York. Everything was paved! You couldn't get dirty if you want- ed to."
For some children, being able to get good and dirty with a bunch of other guys is reason enough to go to camp. They come from big cities where they have no close companions, even in their own family group; often they don't even sit down to dinner with their parents, but eat in the kitchen with the maid.
This was a real revelation to one of the foreign-exchange counselors who came to this country thru the efforts of the Committee for Friendly Relations Among Foreign Students. He was surprised at the bad table manners of some of the boys from wealthy families. He referred to the children in his cabin as "small gangsters," but this was a term of real affection for he was completely charmed by their warmth and maturity.
"An American camper is not as well disciplined as the Swedes," the counselor later observed. "He is less bashful and somewhat more matured than his Swedish mate. But you very soon get acquainted with him and after two hours he declares he likes or hates you more than anybody in the world."
He was judging only boys from a small segment of American life, however, because unless a child has a wealthy uncle or well-to-do parents, he can't afford a summer at
a private camp. Rates begin at about $575 and go on up.
Private camps are only a small part of the organized camp picture, tho. Only 3,000 of the nation s 13,500 organized camps are privately owned and run. Most of the rest are agency and day camps. A "season" is more flexible at these camps, running from one day to several weeks and costing as little as $15 per week.
Many find it hard to understand why anyone would choose to work at a summer camp, but the conclusion can only be heartening to any parent considering sending his child.
Because the pay is poor, the hours are bad, and working conditions sometimes unfavorable [such as an "overnight" in a leaky tent], it can only be assumed that counselors take these jobs out of a love for children and nature.
One of the toughest jobs a director has is selecting good counselors. At one time these young people were chosen because they possessed some special skill, but today directors seek well-rounded, emotionally mature persons. In addition to counselors, the director hires cooks, kitchen boys, stable boys, a camp-mother, a doctor and/ or a nurse. Each staff member is selected with infinite care, because it takes a special kind of person to be able to live so intimately with so many children or young adults for such a length of time.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A CAMP
A PARENT interested in finding the best camp for his child should consider the following points:
1. A good ratio is one counselor for every eight campers; an ideal ratio is one to four.
2. A good director will ask for a personal history of your child. Not so he doesn't, forget her, because if he doesn't feel he needs to know such things as the fact that Sally still wets her bed or is afraid of the dark, he isn't very interested in her.
3. A good camp has a rigid code of safety and health, but a flexible and adaptable daily program of recreation.
4. Fees alone do not make a camp bad or good, and in no way indicate what a camp is really like.
End of article
Today, Swift Nature Camp has progressed with the times enhancing a child's personal growth while at camp, Camp Minocqua is still in the heart of Director Jeff Lorenz and often is being recreated at camp in the camp for the 21st century.