Our Campers
Each session, about 215 boys aged 8-15 call North Star Camp home. Our size allows us to offer an extensive program to meet the diverse interests of our campers, while maintaining a tight knit community. We strive to be a diverse and inclusive community, working to help our campers grow in a world with a wide variety of backgrounds and views. There is significant interaction between age groups and our programming brings the entire camp together in a meaningful way. Our senior campers take an active role with our younger campers by way of our Senior Leadership Program, assisting in younger cabins and with instruction in activities which they have become proficient in.
Our campers come from suburbs and cities across the United States, as well as many campers from other countries. When we have visitors at camp, we often hear comments regarding how polite and helpful our campers are. We are proud of the respect and kindness our boys display throughout the summer.
Most will come for one of our 4-week sessions, however nearly half of our campers will stay for the entire 8-week summer. North Star Camp boasts a high return rate as many of our campers return from one summer to the next. It is not uncommon for our oldest campers to be spending their sixth or even seventh summers at North Star. We welcome many new campers in almost every age group each summer. We are confident that a new camper, whether 9-years old or 14-years old, will be welcomed into this cabin group.
International Campers
International campers and staff have been a part of the North Star Camp community for many years. We find that they bring a great diversity to our community and they have felt welcome and comfortable. If you are considering sending your son to camp from an international destination, we are able to provide him a wonderful camping experience and a total immersion into the English language. It is required that any camper have a basic understanding of English so that they can understand safety directions. It’s also important that all of our campers are able to communicate with each other in order to get the most out of their camp experience. We know they will learn a tremendous amount after spending four weeks with us.
Please take the time to navigate our website. We encourage you to contact us via phone or email at any time if you would like to learn more about North Star Camp and have specific questions about having your son at camp.
Camper Essential Functions
These are the qualities, skills and traits that all campers should have to access programming at North Star Camp.
If a camper does not have a quality, skill and trait as listed below, then discussions between parents and directors will be needed to see if reasonable accommodations can be made during the camper’s time at camp.
- Campers must be able to physically navigate the spaces around camp. This includes but is not limited to: gravel or dirt roads, grass and stairs. They should have the physical stamina to move frequently between spaces and activity locations.
- Campers must have the emotional and behavioral abilities to participate in medium and large group activities, and stay engaged with the activities, without one-on-one support provided by staff.
- Campers must have the ability to understand, remember and follow all safety rules at camp.
- Campers must have the verbal and emotional skills to navigate through conflict and negative feelings by using and sharing their words with others and without ever resorting to violence.
- Campers must know how to self-soothe following a negative feeling or emotion.
- Campers must be able to follow verbal multiple-step directions with a high degree of success.
- Campers must be able to maintain their own daily hygiene self-care tasks without hands-on assistance (brushing teeth, showering, toileting, changing clothes.)
- Campers must be able to sleep in a bunk bed, cabin space with 8-15 other campers without significant aids such as movies, lights, technology devices.
- Campers must be able to eat all meals in a large group setting. At times, the environment where campers eat will have elevated noise levels. During meals, campers must independently plate their own food and choose options that will help sustain their energy needs. There will be multiple food options available. Campers must be able to find suitable foods from the ones that are provided.
- Campers must be able to complete daily camp routines and activities without the use of screen technology devices.
- For campers who have ongoing medical or mental health conditions, they must have a basic understanding of their own condition and be able to communicate about it with appropriate camp staff. Campers should also be able to identify and recognize when they are having symptoms associated with medical or mental health conditions and tell others in order to seek help or treatment. If they require outside or virtual medical treatment while they are at camp, their condition should not remove them from the camp schedule more than one time per week.
