Summer 2024 Recap

Summer 2024

      You were amazing! With 15 camps, over 120 unique campers, hundreds of activities, and an amazing team of staff, we can easily say that this was a summer like no other. This summer we welcomed about FIFTY new campers to our camp family and we couldn't be more grateful! If this was your first time at Upward Bound Camp (or your first time in a long time) we want to say thank you! Your joy, excitement, and courage were obvious and we are proud to call you a part of our family. To all of our returning campers—it wouldn't have been summer without you. Thank you for bringing smiles to our faces and making new memories with us!

As we remember the best moments of the summer we cannot help but remember some of our favorite themes and activities...they were pretty epic! Do you remember traveling the oregon trail with Muleskinner and his team during Pioneer's Paradise? We made bread and butter from scratch, told stories around the campfire, made rawhide drums, traveled in a wagon, and so much more—those were the days! Or maybe you remember the everyday celebrations, messy skits, parades, and parties from Happy Everything when we made a real float for the 4th of July, baked cupcakes, shared picnic lunches, and made ice cream soup—it really was fun!

Every session had its own unique story to tell and I could go on forever remembering my favorite moments but I will only share a few more! Maybe you enjoyed some of our new activities (some were awesome...some will be awesome in the future!) We made moon sand, built an air cannon, had a boxcar derby, had an instrument petting zoo, covered our counselors in ice cream...and had a color war! Of course we also enjoyed all of our favorites from years past...spending time at the river, racticing archery with Spuds (guys, we are getting good!), and sharing our talents and dance moves through the evening events!

To cap off all the fun we had this year, we also hosted our first ever family camp! With activities for the whole family, a spa day for moms, mario kart for dads, and so much laughter we are so excited to continue offering these opportunities next summer. It was an honor to get to know the families that support each of our amazing campers—it makes a lot of sense that our campers are awesome because the families that support them are just as cool! We hope that you and your family can join us for a family camp too!

This summer was awesome in a lot of ways, but it did have its challenges and hiccups. Thank you for your grace as we navigated two rounds of Covid—it wasn't easy to cancel camps, but we know that camper safety is of the utmost importance. We made every effort to ensure that everyone who hoped to attend camp this summer was able to spend at least one week with us. Thank you to the campers and families who were willing to help make that happen, your selflessness did not go unnoticed! Beyond Covid, this summer was HOT! causing us to make necessary changes to programming to prevent heat related sickness and exhaustion. With power outages often accompanying the heat, we played a lot of extra water games, added some late night activities (who doesn't love a blanket fort or a movie night?), and reimagined a few outdoor games for indoor play. We are thankful to our campers for their flexibility and excitement to do camp a little differently when the heat was on!

Through the highs and lows of the summer, we couldn't have done it without our summer staff! A HUGE shoutout to Pizza, Spicy, Rain, Opa, Sky, Wubba, Grizzly, Yuni, TomTom, Bluey, Bogaboo, Echo, Cuke, Snow Lily & Zenith. This dedicated team from Oregon and around the world (Jamaica, Mexico, Bolivia, and the Dominican Republic) gave everything this summer to love every person they encountered. Through the early mornings and late nights, this team let laughter and joy be central. They stepped up to every challenge I offered and encouraged everyone around them to live with love. It was an honor to serve alongside friends. From wherever you are, give these people a round of applause—they deserve it!

Camper Highlight-

Meet Mathias!

      Basketball star, Film hero, and genuine friend--just a few ways to describe this amazing guy! Coming to us all the way from Astoria, Mathias entered camp for the first...and second time with an attitude of openness, excitement, and fun. It was a joy to get to know him and so many other new friends this summer and we cannot wait to see him again in 2025!