Across the state, summer camps are nearing the end of their seasons. For many directors and leadership staff that means looking ahead to closing up buildings, storing equipment, thinking about maintenance needs. But season’s end also means campers are going home, leaving the constant connection to friends, the immersion in new and favorite activities, and the hiatus from the use of technology and social media. For some campers, returning home means saying good-bye to best friends and acclimating to the relationships and realities of home and school. Kids face transitions when they come to camp, to be sure, but the transition home can be tough, too.

Half a dozen teenagers are gathered on the shore of the Kennebago River.  They are buckling and adjusting the straps of their lifejackets, examining a selection of paddles spread out on the ground, and pacing a little nervously as they look out on the water.  Among them is 14-year-old Noah from Maryland, a camper at Birch Rock Camp in Waterford.

Summer camp staff members assume enormous responsibility when they take on their jobs. They teach a variety of activities, oversee cabins full of youngsters, engage in conflict resolution, homesickness management, and other relationship challenges, and work with other staff members to ensure that campers stay healthy and happy. It’s a tall order – and a complicated one. And key to every camp’s success is thorough staff training. Particularly relevant are issues related to diversity, bias and acceptance. Christopher Thurber, Ph.D., and Doug Sutherland recently shared their decades of expertise with 44 Maine camp staff from five different camps.  Entitled “Courageous Ignorance,” the workshop gave participants the opportunity through activities and conversation to examine how they approach diversity and differences, bias...

In the coming days, camp programs across the state will be in full swing. From robotics to music to sports – plus traditional residential camps nestled among woods and water – offerings in the state’s camping community are vast. And come July, a few dozen youngsters will have the chance to attend a camp like none other in Maine. Aurora Vaulters, a non-profit organization formed less than a decade ago, will bring together children to learn the equestrian skill of vaulting – defined as gymnastic dance in harmony with a moving horse. 

For many, summer camp in Maine brings to mind outdoor adventure in the state’s natural beauty. But for two decades, youngsters have had an entirely different camp opportunity, one that opens the vast world of aviation careers. Maine ACE (Aviation Career Education) Camps offer its participants an inside look at the military and commercial aviation systems, including the chance to go up in a variety of aircraft. It is an exhilarating and unique chance to see aviation first hand, says Camp Director Pete Marucci, and there are still openings for youngsters who would like to register.

Living in cabins and tents. No electronics.  Exploring mountains and waterways. Taking risks, learning new skills, fostering lifelong friendships. Maine’s youth camp season will be in full swing in a matter of weeks.  Tens of thousands of youngsters from around the country and all over the world will soon arrive for a summer of living and learning in the state’s vast natural beauty.  At some Maine camps, these activities have taken place for more than a century.  Camp personnel who have devoted decades to these institutions say that in some respects camps have certainly changed over the years. But they agree that in a number of ways – many key elements to a beneficial camp experience – camp is much...

Above all, camps directors want kids to have positive experiences: friendships, abundant activities, and – in the case of residential camps – cabin life, all factor into how much campers enjoy themselves. But an additional and crucial element of the camp experience is the food. And for a subset of campers, those with food allergies, intolerances, or other dietary restrictions, eating at camp can be more complicated. Fortunately, camps across Maine are welcoming the opportunity to meet those campers’ dietary needs – and in some cases changing a summer camp experience from a wish to a reality.

When the summer camp season ends, most camp personnel return to their work or school endeavors. But Maine camps also have year-round employees, a core group whose members often wear many hats in performing the vast range of tasks associated with operating youth camps. Some of those year-round employees are in the early stages of their professional camp careers; many have ascended to their positions after years as campers and seasonal staff members. In the past year a group of such young camp professionals has joined forces to form the Maine Summer Camps Outreach Committee.  Their goal is multi-faceted, says Kristy Andrews, assistant director at Camp Wawenock, a girls’ camp in Raymond. Andrews, along with Matt Pines, a director at...

Families looking for Maine youth camp experiences this summer will have a unique opportunity on Sunday to find out just how many options kids have.  Maine Summer Camps, a non-profit membership organization supporting more than 120 Maine camps, will holds its ninth annual Maine Summer Camps Fair on Sunday, March 18. The fair will take place from 1-3:30 p.m. at East End School, 195 North Street, in Portland. MSC Anticipates 70 Camps to Partake in the Fair Ron Hall, executive director of Maine Summer Camps, says the organization anticipates about 70 camps to participate, “everything from magic camp to drama camp to music camp to science camp.” Hall says the fair will include traditional overnight camps, agency camps such as...

Summer in Maine brings kids a whole host of opportunities. Camps and recreational programs expose youngsters to the state’s vast natural beauty and give them the chance to learn new skills, make new friends, and play hard outdoors from dawn to dusk. But there’s a Maine non-profit reaching thousands of children each year and teaching an entirely different set of skills. Come this summer, the organization will offer approximately 50 separate weeks of STEM education to day campers from Berwick to Ft. Kent. And, for the first time, it will offer two weeks of overnight camp, hosted by Colby College in Waterville.