Invest in Your Child

• Sending your child to CYC is more than entertainment, keeping them active during summer or having fun (although those are all true).
• CYC is a life experience and investing in that experience is a gift your child deserves.
• Physical and emotional safety of campers is the number one priority in every aspect of CYC- trust us with your child.

The Result of Your Investment

• Everything we do at CYC is for the intentional purpose of building campers' life skills.
• At CYC, campers will develop life skills, make friends and grow in faith.
•  At CYC, we've identified seven life skills we want campers to develop while they are at camp. Those skills are:

Faith
Morning and evening prayer, nightly devotions, weekly mass and a passionate staff make CYC a faith-focused environment.
Faith is part of everything we do at camp- activities, prayer, socializing - God is active at CYC.
"My counselor was hilarious and really fun! When I found out he was the ministry leader in chapel, I realized that it was possible to be cool AND celebrate your faith." –Matt (13 years old)

Confidence
Campers are encouraged to try new things.
A supportive camp environment instills pride in kids as they accomplish goals throughout the week.
"I had never been away from home by myself for that long. I was nervous about leaving my family. But when I got to camp, I made lots of friends, learned how to dance and slept in a tent for the first time. I left camp feeling really proud of myself and I realized that I was a lot stronger than I had thought." –Jenny (12 years old)

Creativity
Campers are encouraged to express themselves, let their imaginations take control and explore the possibilities of what they can create.
"My counselors were so crazy, always making up songs and asking us if we thought something could be done in a different way. I've never played soccer with 4 balls before, but at camp, anything is possible." –Casey (10 years old)
"I loved that at arts and crafts and dance, there was never a "right way" to do things. The counselors told us to just let our brain go wild." –Katie (9 years old)

Problem Solving
Activities are designed to challenge kids to think about things in a different way, use their imagination, and come up with new approaches to doing things.
The camp experience is more than just fun activities. It is also about giving kids an opportunity to meet and work together with new people, communicate, compromise and learn to find solutions to problems.
"Our cabin was a mess! My counselors told us that since it was our cabin, we were going to have to figure out how to fix it. My parents always tell me what to do, so I was surprised that the counselors left it up to us. But we worked together and I was proud that we got it clean without any adults." –Jake (8 years old)

Team Work
Campers learn to work together through living, playing and facing challenges together.
"My cabin really came together to win the Olympic games. I was proud to be part of the group." –Leah (10 years old)
"On the overnight camping trip, our counselors asked us if we thought we could put up our tent faster than they could. We had to listen to each other, come up with a plan and work together, but we did it!" –Eric (14 years old)

Independence
The camp experience is more than just activities and fun, it is about giving campers the opportunity to make choices, have new experiences and face challenges on their own.
Campers grow in life skills when they learn that they are capable of doing things on their own.
"One of my 7 year old campers was shocked and amazed when she discovered her travel sized toothpaste (she had never seen such a thing before!). It was really cute, but it also made me realize that camp is more than just entertainment. It's important for kids to do things without their parents and learn about life." – 2009 Counselor

Leadership Development
Campers are encouraged to express their opinion, share their ideas and take ownership of their cabin, the activities and CYC overall.
Daily activities and camp life are focused on giving campers the chance to learn, grow and develop into leaders.
"On the first day of camp, my counselor said, 'I liked that my counselors always let us vote on activities and asked our opinion about everything. The more I got to have a 'say' in things, the more it made me want to make decisions." –Joe (15 years old)