SUMMER CAMP 2024 IS NEARLY HERE!
We are going to have a great time!
Want to know more about our annual mentoring camp?
Take a look:
MENTORING CAMP!
In 2022, Patuxent Riverkeeper inaugurated our first series of summer youth camps built around the theme of providing adult mentorship in the outdoors.
Our team has recruited a diverse faculty of mentors, and organized a series of outdoor adventures and experiences that connects kids from ages 10-16 to nature.
We continued this year's camp with more young campers from the Greater Brandywine/Upper Marlboro area, who might otherwise miss out on a summer camping experience due to expense, or geography (distance from a camp) or other considerations.
The mentoring camp has been a vision of our Staff and Board of Directors at Patuxent Riverkeeper for many years. It came from various experiences people around us have had with mentors in their lives. The goal is to create a safe space where adults can share what they know, assist young people with the development of new skills and build confidence doing new things.
The initial funding for the camps is the result of a partnership with state government. It turns out that our wilderness and waterfront location lends itself to all sorts of hands on and direct learning opportunities within one of Maryland’s most important and significant watersheds. The Patuxent Riverkeeper Center is bounded by State and County parkland, located with our own dock, right next to the Patuxent River.
Unique experiences, fun times, and learning from nature are some of the benefits provided to every single kid on camp by infusing their experiential learning with cross - cultural interpretive opportunities to enrich their global perspectives.
In addition to the usual Chesapeake Bay oriented and environmental studies related learning, we have also drawn heavily from Native - American, African American and other folklore, traditions and natural history as it relates to nature. In sum, our aim has been to provide young people with opportunities to learn about the earth on their own terms, to pursue personal growth, and inquiries into nature that reflect their own personal interests and inclinations. In effect, kids at these camps learn to be more themselves than ever before!
WHAT HAPPENS AT CAMP?
The key word to describe what happens on summer camp is: Learning.
The outdoor mentors supervise and work with our campers on outdoor activities such as: Kayaking, fishing, magnet fishing, identifying native plants, swimming competitions, animal tracking, tying knots, compass navigation and orienteering, self- rescue techniques and much more.
We offer one week-long camp in each of the prime summer months (June, July, August). Every camp cycle runs for 5 consecutive days in a row, we typically start activities in the morning at Patuxent River Center, and during the course of the day we can change locations depending on which activity is designated for each day. Activities for each day may include occasional field trips to nearby farms, and park owned facilities that offer supplemental attractions like fire observation towers, wetland walks, animal prowls, nearby swimming pools and hikes in the surrounding woodlands.
At the outset of each camp week each camper receives their own goody bag of various tools and resources they can keep, and will be used throughout the camp week to further their studies and learning — useful items such as bandanas, daily journals, water bottles, field identification guides, binoculars, are included.
Fresh fruits, healthful snacks and hydration are available at all times. However, we suggest your camper have a complete breakfast before arriving to camp and to bring their own lunch. We can assist and have accommodated various individual dietary needs and restrictions. Most of the camp costs are offset by grants and donations. For the 2023 season, we are requesting a $150 donation per kid, and the donation can be waived by request. It is important to us that no young person who wants to attend be turned away!
A LIFETIME OF MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES:
The mentoring approach is somewhat different from what many summer camps offer because here, the young people actually direct and inform the learning experiences. They get to decide what sorts of things they want to try, which skills to build on, while the adult mentors are there to help, instruct, encourage, share wisdom and experience, and of course to keep them safe!
Luckily, there is a huge number of qualified adult mentors available. This year, we have had the pleasure of working alongside incredible people such as the Chesapeake Biological Lab Team from Solomon's Island. The Lab team was present during the June camp to explain how chemical and biological parameters are used to define sampling in the river. We also had The Chesapeake Paddlers Association present at the June and July camps. They taught campers safety measures for kayaking on the river.
Every single one of these mentors are eager to spend a day or two sharing what they know, assisting young people and providing personalized/individualized attention, in order to help youngsters. Enhance their competence and confidence at functioning in the unbuilt world.
Throughout, young people are encouraged to interact, explore, speak up, deliberate with others, make new friends, help and teach one another, and keep one another safe from natural hazards like stinging insects, briars, poison ivy, and other very natural and foreseeable hazards. Drum circles are common at camp as kids build community and teamwork using hand and drum, perhaps one of the oldest techniques known to mankind for collaboration and community building.
The CPA (The Chesapeake Paddlers Association) on June 2023 camp, check out their website!
Consider joining us as a camper, mentor or adult helper at our future summer sessions. If you would like to apply to become a camp mentor, please fill the following form:
Patuxent Riverkeeper Adult Mentor Intake Application
If you would like to register your child for an upcoming camping week, you can fill this form:
Send all filled forms to:
info@paxriverkeeper.org
Want to check out some photos from our previous camps? Here:
June 2023
July 2023
August 2023
How about a printable flier for the camp? PaxRiverFlyer no 1
Modules planned for 2024:
Camping - Angling - Paddling & instruction - Orienteering - Hiking - Foraging for plants - Arts and Crafts - Drumming