For over a hundred years Ovenight Summer Camps have been providing outdoor fun and personal growth for America's youth. 2020 was the year of exceptions, resulting in  85% of the summer camps remaining closed. At Swift Nature Camp in Minong Wi. camp was on and COVID FREE. Swift Nature Camp attracts bright, curious and creative children with passion for nature and the outdoors. At camp, they tackle exciting adventures, and gain confidence and independence with their outdoor explorations. 

But, 2020 was different, many long standing SNC camp families were understandably reluctant to send their children to camp. Yet, with so many camps closed, many other families who did not know SNC, sent their children, making the summer of 2020 one of the busiest summers in 25 years. 

By creating a safe bubble, Jeff & Lonnie Lorenz knew that the children would appreciate camp more in 2020 than ever before. Jeff says "Despite all the rules to keep covid out, like isolating, masks, washing, cleaning and staying in pods it was still an amazing experience and much better than being in the basement looking at a screen."

 After the in camp isolation and masks wearing, the happiest day at camp was the day that camp was declared COVID free and the "safe bubble" was working. Campers were crazy with excitement. It meant that kids were again allowed to be kids and not worry at all about a pandemic. Swift Nature Camp was again a safe place.

In early May 2020 the government had given little support to help camp understand the best practices for summer camps to be open. Fortunately, the ACA (American Camp Association) had contracted with an outside environmental firm to put together a best practices plan to keep campers safe and reduce the spread of COVID. The plan worked flawlessly at Swift Nature Camp and never was there a reason to suspect a COVID case. In the summer, camps were a testing ground for many of the COVID plans like the "Safe Bubble" that the NBA used successfully in the fall of 2020. Camps helped lead the way that outdoors is a limiting factor in transfer of COVID-19.

So camp was coming to a close, we were sitting outside with our staff and we asked about their after summer plans. Not surprisingly, many colleges were doing classes online. So the question came up, "would you like to do school at summer camp?". Again, pandemonium erupted with the option of being at camp covid free, playing with kids and doing school. Thus was born the Fall School Camp that took place later that fall for 6 weeks. Being that we felt comfortable tackling COVID all that was needed was rearranging the camp schedule so students could get the school work they brought from home completed on time.  Many families loved the concept of giving their child the ability to have face to face contact along with outdoor exercise rather than staying home doing school work in isolation. The kids loved it. Because the group was small, it became more like family. Lonnie, the Camp Director says "It was amazing the students were so well behaved and friendly towards each other, their appreation for having such an opportunity was evident". Two of the greatest days were the day it snowed 4 inches and stayed around for 3 weeks and spending Halloween at camp including pumpkin carving and party at night. 

As we move to 2021, with a COVID vaccine slowly rolling out, it is clear that all of us have become more knowledgeable about the virus. As a residential summer camp that blazed the trail in 2020, this year will seem much easier. Today, we wait for the spring to give us more information, allowing more informed decisions to be made.  Safety is camps major concern, evaluation will take place and perhaps there will be less isolation & masks and more fun and friendships in the summer on the horizon.

ACA works with accredited camps to provide:

What are some of the 300 ACA standards ?

What's the difference between state licensing of camps and accreditation by ACA?

How do ACA standards exceed state licensing requirements?

How can I verify that my child's camp is ACA accredited?

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Top Five Reasons to Pursue a Rewarding Camp Counselor Job in Illinois

At Swift Nature Camp our campers tend to be those smart kids who like to learn and since they have no screens, they have plenty of time to read. At this old fashioned summer camp we have an achievement award for those campers that read while at summer camp. It takes a little prioritizing but their are plenty of opportunities to read, before bed, quiet time and even outside during activities. Our camp library is loaded with books that campers can choose from. However recently I found this article with a list of books that you might want to give your camper to read at camp

Summer Camps Activities 2020: Campers, Be Sure To Pack These Books This Summer

By Alissa Silber

Published: Mar 07, 2020 08:00 AM

 

Sleeping bag: check! Flashlight: check! Books to read …

For children and teens not sure what books to bring to their overnight camp this summer, C.H. Booth Library’s librarians have them covered.

Children’s Librarian Alana Bennison and Young Adult Librarian Catherine Findorak have crafted a list of camp-specific books that will be sure to keep pages turning well after the campfires have died out and the counselors have called lights out.

Young Readers: First Through Third Grade

Camp would not be complete without some ghost stories, and The End of Orson Eerie? by Jack Chabert helps with just that. The spooky book is part of the Eerie Elementary Series, which consists of easy-to-read text and illustrations on every page.

Another popular children’s book series is the Bad Kitty series by Nick Bruel. It features Bad Kitty Camp Daze, which chronicles the hubbub that ensures when the main character, Kitty, bonks her head, causing her to act like a dog, and gets sent to Uncle Murray’s dog camp.

Grow Grateful by Safe Foster-Lasser and Jon Lasser is a lighthearted read for children that features character Kiko embarking on a campingq trip with her class where she learns about gratitude. The book even provides advice and tips for mindfulness and being grateful.

Campers looking for a heart-racing, white-knuckle inducing story can check out I Survived the Attack of the Grizzlies, 1967 by Lauren Tarshis. There, the readers will learn the dangerous tale of an 11-year-old girl coming face-to-face with a grizzly bear in the wild.

Another book shining light on the great outdoors is The Camping Trip That Changed America by Barb Rosenstock. The book highlights the true story of President Theodore Roosevelt and naturalist John Muir’s trip to Yosemite in 1903.

Middle Grade: Fourth Through Sixth Grade

Fans of Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes will enjoy the follow up book Sophie Quire and the Last Storyguard by Jonathan Auxier. The fictional journey takes the characters on an adventure they will never forget.

Out of the Wild Night by Blue Balliett will keep readers on their toes as they read about ghosts who select a group of children to help save the island of Nantucket.

Released just last September, The Light in the Lake by Sarah Baughman is perfect for campers by the water. It tells the tale of a 12-year-old girl studying Maple Lake’s pollution; what she discovers will cause her to make a pivotal choice.

The great outdoors is the setting in The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, where a robot named Rozzum unit 7134 — also known as Roz — finds herself on an isolated island where she has to find a way to survive in nature.

Waste of Space by Stuart Gibbs is the third and final installment in the New York Times bestselling Moon Base Alpha series. As exciting as it is to travel the world, this book takes readers on an adventure in space to solve a murder and rescue the moon base commander.

Fans of Kelly Barnhill, Michael Buckley, Adam Gidwitz, Adele Griffin, Lisa Brown, Claire Legrand, Nikki Loftin, Daniel José Older, Dav Pilkey, R.L. Stine, and Rita Williams-Garcia will be delighted to read Guys Read: Terrifying Tales edited by Jon Scieszka. The book features a collection of ghosts stories from each author with illustrations by Gris Grimly.

Those looking for a fright in the night can also dive into The Haunting of Henry Davis by Kathryn Siebel about two kids who meet a ghost named Edgar. The duo goes on an adventure to find out who Edgar was when he was alive and why he has chosen to haunt Henry now.

Grades 5 And Up

A popular young adult series capturing the hearts and attention of graphic novel readers is Lumberjanes, Volume 1 to 13, by Noelle Stevenson. The series features five teenage best friends at Scout camp who go on adventures solving mysteries and fighting monsters.

Another graphic novel sure to delight older campers is the coming-of-age story All Summer Long written and illustrated by Hope Larson. When her best friend leaves for summer camp and our protagonist Bina is left to figure out how to spend her time, she discovers a new friendship based on a mutual love of music.

Grades 8 And Up

With the last book in the “Arc of a Scythe” trilogy by Neal Shusterman finally released last November, campers can binge-read all three books — Scythe, Thunderhead, and The Toll. The dark series takes readers to a fictional world where humanity has conquered everything from hunger and disease to war, and even death. Two teens must apprentice with a scythe, whose job it is to take people’s lives, and if they fail, their own lives could be at stake.

The graphic novel This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki tackles some adult content as its main character, Rose, goes through the turbulence of fighting parents and the unexpected discovery of an older teenager being involved in something life threatening.

So, children and teens heading off to overnight camp this summer will need to be sure to scoot over their toothbrush and socks to leave a designated spot in their knapsack for these page-turning reads.

As the owner of Swift Nature Camp for over 25 year we have seen many changes in why parents send thier children to Overnight Summer Camp. Prior to cell phones and tablets parents were excited that children would be able to live with other kids in a fun and supportive way, while being out in nature away from city life. While the parents often got to travel or participate in other fun things for themselves. But around 2008 or so, parents begun to look at summer camps as a way to get children off their electronic devices. Parents often tell us that it is the "removal of cell phones that makes SNC Special". They especially enjoy that a technology break encourages children to be more  active and not as sedentary plus they will make face to face connections. These skills are important for children to learn at a young age so they do not get addicted to technology like the rest of us. No doubt technology is a very important part of our lives these days but we as parents need to harness that power to make it an advantage rather than a demon.

Here are a few ideas that will help us.

1-Use a Video Tutorial for a Family Activity- This day and age we all use "how to videos" to do projects. I have repaired a car with my son after watching a video together. You could use the same to bake a cake or make a pizza as a family activity? This will make the activity more fun and you will be teaching your children you don't know everything and how to use your resources. .

2-Become a Director- Some evening when the family is all together rather than everyone going to their own devise shoot a movie together.  Together come up with a skit or idea where kids could play their favorite characters and the older kids together even parents should get involved. Years from today the family will look back at these  videos and it will bring a smile to their everyones face. Be sure not to get to crazy on perfection have fun with it and let the mistakes enter in, it will only be more fun in the future.

3-Change your communication- Texts are impersonal and often unclear to children. I much prefer the app MarcoPolo as a way to communicate. It provides  Face to face interactions is very important, especially for your growing kids. It can affect the level of their confidence and the way they interact with other people rather than the abbreviated language of texts. Remember, seeing you and hearing your voice builds a stronger connection than a instant message regardless how sweet you make it.

4-Family Organizer Apps- Cozi Family Organizer has a wide range of really useful functions that you could use a family, such as managing family tasks lists, sending reminders of important family schedules and personal events and even make games out of chores. Why is this important Today children want to know in advance and do not like surprises, so it helps with anxiety. It also helps them become responsible for daily routines and one thing we have learned at Swift Nature Camp, kids do best with structure and routines.

Finally, I believe a wonderful thing all  parents need to do is role model how to be independent of their device. Set a day or even a time each day,  that everyone will put down their tablets and be together as family. Because after all, that is one of the main reason parents send their children to overnight camp - to put down their device be less dependent on technology and more dependent on relationships.

If Anakin Skywalker had gone to Swift Nature Camp, he would not have become Darth Vader. 

For a child in pseudo-slavery with a single parent, young Anakin Skywalker was surprisingly well adjusted.  His mother had educated him well and clearly raised him in a loving, supportive home.  At a young age, he was already displaying the positive qualities all parents hope to see like empathy, kindness, initiative and confidence.  Anakin would go on to spend the next ten years being schooled in the Jedi Arts.  But had he taken a little time off in the summers to go to camp, he would have built upon the strong fundamentals of his childhood and had the power to resist the dark side.

Imagine an alternate universe where every July, Anakin pilots his spaceship to beautiful northern Wisconsin and spends three weeks at Swift Nature Camp.  Here at camp, Anakin would spend his time at activities like boating, archery, or the Lego cabin.  He might go to the nature center and adopt an exotic Earth animal like a bunny or tarantula to take care of for the summer.  He and his friends would go on over-night canoeing trips filled with campfires, s’mores, and stargazing.  His time would fly by and he would count down the days until he could return the following summer.  

The activities and adventures would give him memories that last a lifetime, but it’s the work sleepaway camps do underneath the surface that would keep him on the light side of the force.  The bonds Anakin would develop with his friends would be so uniquely strong and unlike any relationship in his life.  In fact, the overall culture of the cabins and camp itself would have him reevaluating the relationships in his life outside of camp.  Not only would he start to recognize and eliminate the negative influences in his life, he would have new value and appreciation for the positive ones.  Kids who have experienced the supportive, loving, and culturally rich environment of camp are the kind of kids who overcome the pull to the dark side.

Anakin would also experience a place where failure is ok.  At Swift Nature Camp, they know the best life lessons are born out of failure rather than success.  The resilience to overcome something and the wisdom to lean from mistakes are more valuable than anything Anakin could learn from immediate success. 

The things Anakin would take away from his time at that cozy Wisconsin sleepaway camp would be engrained in him forever.  Camp would not prevent the tragedies he would endure or the immense challenges he would face, but it would give him the tools to make proactive decisions for himself and those around him, a lesson even the greatest Jedi masters struggle to teach.

Recently, I was wondering why after 25 years of overnight summer camp we are still relavent to society. Of course, it came down to relationships in particular or camp staff. They are a great bunch of young adults that come to camp for all the right reasons and the right mindset. Then I ran accross this article by Mike McClary and it made things much more clear. Summer camp is a place where everyone is valued and we are all held to a higher standard. A standard that is not about ourselves as much as it is about others. When creating this environment it requires all agree to this mindshift. Camp is a much easier place to have this happen than out in the world. In the past I have asked staff why they return to camp and I have often heard "Camp makes me a better me". When you have staff feeling this way it is bound to filter down to the campers at camp.

The below article is a great way to move closer to living camp everyday in our life

Mindset is everything.

It defines your actions. Your thoughts. Your life.

Adopt the scarcity mindset, and you'll always be scared for what you have. And that you'll never get what you want. Scarcity has a way of holding you hostage and making you a victim. 

If you adopt a success mindset, you'll see opportunities for growth everywhere.

So today, I'd like to share with you 9 tips to start developing a success mindset... starting today.

Tip #1: Start your day with positive affirmations

You are what you think. 

And you think about what you teach your mind to focus on.

So if you start your day focusing on the positive things about yourself, your mind will grow a habit of thinking about positive things.

Tips #2: Read/listen to inspiring stories each day

Historian Thomas Carlyle once said that: "History is nothing more than a collection of biographies belonging to great people."

And those people had the right mindset.

Spend at least one 30 minutes each day reading their biographies. Listening to videos about them. Listen to their podcasts.

Let some of that awesomeness transfer to YOUR mind.

Tip #3: Accept the fact that perfection is impossible

There's no such thing as being perfect. At anything.

In fact, I’ve found that perfection is the enemy of profit. 

And if you constantly try to reach perfection, you'll never be satisfied and happy. 

OR, you will never take a task to completion.

Do your best.

More often than not, it'll be enough.

Remember that there is a law of diminishing returns that comes into play. 

Tip #4: Meditate

Calm your mind.

Clear your thoughts.

Get to know yourself.

Many great ideas came to life thanks to the process of meditation.

Tip #5: Learn to say NO - and stick to it

Energy, time, and focus drainers are everywhere.

So are many temptations and shiny objects.

If you say YES to any of them, you're taking a step away from your goals.

Learn to say NO. And keep your focus on what you truly want.

Tip #6: Turn failures into lessons

In every failure, there's a lesson.

Why it happened. What did you missed. What can you do to prevent it from happening the next time.

And if you can learn a lesson, then it wasn't a failure at all.

It was a teaching moment.

Like Edison said: "I haven't failed 20,000 times. I found 19,999 ways how NOT to make a light bulb."

Tip #7: Surround yourself with success-oriented people

You are the average of the 5 people you spend most of your time with.

Do you want to get fit and go to the gym 3x a week?

Hang out with people who are fit and go 5x.

Want to be the best at what you do?

Surround yourself with people who are the best at what they do.

Surround yourself with people who'll lift you up.

Tip #8: Get a mentor/coach

Even the most successful people have coaches.

They help them stay focused and on track.

Find a mentor who'll keep you away from distraction and negativity.

Tip #9: Remind yourself of your past successes

Failure can distract you. A lot.

Some negative people can distract you. Significantly.

And that makes it easy to slide away into apathy and negative thinking.

Constantly remind yourself of your past successes.

And keep reminding yourself that you're capable for greatness.

Come to the Swift Nature Camp 
Informational Open House
in Chicagoland May 27th - MEMORIAL DAY.   

Our Open House is a wonderful time to learn more about camp by meeting the Directors (Lonnie & Jeff), staff and other campers.   If you are already enrolled in camp this is a wonderful time to meet new friends and play games with the other campers and counselors. You can even bring a friend. We will take a hike round Willowbrook Wildlife Center and explore the animals and activities. If you have not committed to SNC and are still thinking we might be the right camp for you, please come with your questions. We hope you can make it to this fun program. Please dress for the weather. If you have any questions call us at 630-654-8036.
We hope to see you there, Lonnie & Jeff

OPEN HOUSE AT THE WILLOWBROOK WILDLIFE CENTER

Why Come? Have your questions answered, Feel more comfortable with the owners and staff, Make firends, Help campers feel good cabout camp

Camper Games and Hike-START TIME: 1pm

Parent Information  -START TIME: 1pm

Camper & Parent Question & Answers: 2pm
Ending 3pm

WHERE: Willowbrook Wildlife Center (across from the College of DuPage) Glen Ellyn Il
WHO: Campers Enrolled or Families that are considering SNC and want more information

DIRECTIONS to Willowbrook Wildlife, Center Glen Ellyn, Il

WILLOWBROOK WILDLIFE CENTER IS LOCATED on the east side of Park Boulevard across from College of DuPage, one mile south of Roosevelt (Rt. 38) and one mile north of Butterfield Road (Rt. 56). ph(630) 942-6200
525 S Park Blvd, Glen Ellyn, IL 60137