Summer camp in Maine brings together thousands of kids from all over the world ready to enjoy all of the state’s beauty. Maine’s insects, however, can be uninvited but omnipresent guests. That’s where Laura Blaisdell, M.D., M.P.H., and her husband, Andy Lilienthal, come in. Lilienthal is owner and director of Camp Winnebago, in Fayette. Blaisdell is a board-certified pediatrician and medical researcher who practices in Yarmouth, and is Camp Winnebago’s medical director. On Tuesday they teamed up to conduct a webinar for Maine camp administrators on a topic all too familiar for anyone who spends time in Maine’s outdoors – bugs. The hour-long presentation reached about two dozen camp directors and focused on ticks, mosquitoes, and lice – all of...

Camp can be a world unto its own. Campers can unplug from technology, forge new relationships, take on unfamiliar challenges. For staff, too, camp can be a welcome escape into the woods and wild. But mental health issues – particularly anxiety – can arise for campers and staff alike. On Tuesday, Maine Summer Camps, a non-profit serving more than 120 Maine member camps, hosted a Boston-area clinician who shared wisdom with camp administrators from all over Maine. Robert B. Ditter, M.Ed., L.C.S.W., is a familiar face to camp personnel, and once again he imparted both knowledge and wit in a three-hour workshop at Portland’s Italian Heritage Center. The morning program, sponsored by Androscoggin Bank, brought together camp directors from a...

Last week’s blog featured numerous camps throughout the state that offer free sessions to economically disadvantaged kids. Youngsters who qualify for free and reduced lunch under federal guidelines – kids often nominated by schools or social service agencies – may have the opportunity to attend a week or 10 days of Maine camp tuition-free. But what about families which don’t fall in that category, for whom the cost of many traditional summer camps is out of reach? That’s where “camperships” come in, financial assistance that can make a camp experience possible. Here is a sampling of what some camps offer. At Maine Audubon, in Falmouth, an endowment funds camperships for Summer Camp at Gilsland Farm, says Group Assistant Beth Pauls....

Maine camps host thousands of kids each summer. But camp isn’t cheap. Tuition at some camps hovers around $10,000 for a full session. Yet the benefits of camp extend to kids from all backgrounds. That’s why a number of camps offer special sessions for economically disadvantaged youngsters, giving them a chance to experience traditional camp activities. The mission of these programs, however, is much more. These camps want to change lives. One such program began nearly 50 years ago at Camp Walden in Denmark. Founded by Camp Walden owner Helen Herz Cohen in 1968, The Main Idea is still held in partnership with Camp Walden and brings together economically disadvantaged girls from New York and New England for 10 days...

Situated on 100 acres of conservation land and a lake all to itself, a camp in Maine is changing youngsters’ lives by the thousands – completely tuition-free. For more than 40 years, Camp Susan Curtis in Stoneham has hosted economically disadvantaged children from all over the state. Kids participate in traditional camp activities, to be sure, but in putting its mission to work, Camp Susan Curtis is also giving kids a whole new perspective on their path ahead. The Susan L. Curtis Charitable Foundation – and Camp Susan Curtis – were established in the 1970s after the death of Susan L. Curtis, the daughter of then-Governor Kenneth M. Curtis and his wife Pauline B. Curtis. The Curtis family and those...

Going to camp requires adjusting to a new environment – from food to friends to a vast range of other experiences. But for many kids, going to camp also means wilderness trips, which present a whole new level of unfamiliar adventures. Whether on land or on water, camp trips programs offer the opportunity for kids to challenge themselves, work in a close-knit group, and grow even closer to Maine’s natural beauty. Garth Altenburg, director of Camp Chewonki, a boys’ camp in Wiscasset, calls it a “trinity,” an experience of campers’ personal growth gained by working, with a group, in nature. Trips at Chewonki range from one-night outings for the youngster campers to weeks-long odysseys in the subarctic of Canada. But...

“There’s a camp out there for everybody.” Catriona Sangster, director of Camp Wawenock, a traditional girls’ camp in Raymond, is president of Maine Summer Camps, a non-profit organization with 125 Maine member camps. She knows Maine camps.  Yet parents looking for camps for their kids may be surprised at just how much today’s camps have to offer.  Whether it’s a specialty camp with a particular niche, or a more traditional camp, the variety of activities for kids is vast. Take Hidden Valley Camp, a co-ed camp in Freedom.  From llama care to glassblowing, the camp’s programming promotes variety of activities to attract a diverse community. Peter Kassen, who has directed the camp with his wife, Meg, since 1989, says Hidden...

Confidence. Junior Maine Guides  – those certified decades ago, as well as more recent candidates –  agree that the outdoor living program, which culminates in a rigorous five-day outdoor test encampment, gave them confidence. And not just in the woods. During the program’s nearly 80-year history, more than 2600 youngsters aged 14 to 18 have been certified as JMGs. Co-sponsored by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Maine Summer Camps (a non-profit organization with 125 Maine camp members), the program builds that confidence by teaching participants outdoor living skills across the board: canoeing, wielding an axe, building shelter and fire, using a compass, and many others.  But certification goes beyond that, JMGs say. “It shaped me,” says...

Every summer, deep in the woods of the Stephen Phillips Memorial Preserve in Oquossoc, Maine, as many as 75 teenagers gather for a five-day encampment with one goal in mind: to become certified as Junior Maine Guides. From paddling a canoe to wielding an axe to cooking over an open fire, these candidates demonstrate their skills to a panel of testers – many of whom received the JMG certification as youngsters themselves.

“Camps take place in beautiful natural areas. It’s one of the great treasures of camp.” Setting, however, is just the starting point for helping kids learn to love their environment, says Jessica Decke, summer camp director of Tanglewood 4-H Camp in Lincolnville. Decke and other camp directors agree that camp offers an ideal opportunity for youngsters to appreciate the natural world in the moment, and also develop a spirit of stewardship that can last a lifetime. “Kids are really drawn in and really concerned by what’s happening to the planet,” says Garth Altenburg, director of Chewonki Camp for Boys in Wiscasset. Camp offers the chance for first-hand participation in taking care of that planet. “It applies to the majority of...