At Camp Stanislaus, our motto is “a lifetime of memories and friendships”. To me, this could not be any truer in describing what camp is all about. Many of our campers and counselors come to camp knowing very few people, if anyone at all, and leave with friends for life. This is due to the fact that Camp focuses on the total development of the camper. We want our campers to leave camp with new skills, not just physical skills, but social ones as well. At Camp, our campers have the ability to start with a fresh slate. There is no “he is the bad kid” or “that’s the student who always acts up in class”. Every camper is free to be his or her own self.
“Being yourself” is the key to making these memories and friendships. It allows campers to try new things like sailing or waterskiing, and not having to worry about being better than the camper next to him. Camp is a non-competitive environment. That doesn’t mean we don’t compete. We do have competitions in certain activities, especially in sports where we work on team-building. We want the camper to compete with themselves and leave camp with more skills than when they arrived. Over the course of these activities, memories are made with their fellow campers and strong bonds are made and develop into friendships that far exceed the reach of camp.
