Camp Sealth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Camp Sealth is located on Vashon Island, Washington. It is owned and operated by Camp Fire USA. During the summer it is a resident summer camp and day camp, and during the off-season it is an environmental education center and can be rented for retreats. Camp Sealth is an American Camp Association accredited camp.^[1] The camp director is Jan Milligan.

---

Contents 1 Location 2 Campers 3 Programs 3.1 Regular Camp 3.1.1 Explorers 3.1.2 Adventure 3.1.3 Discovery 3.1.4 Village 3.1.5 Horizon 3.2 Wrangler 3.3 Sailing 3.4 Tripping 3.5 Teen Leadership 3.5.1 CITs and RSITs 3.5.2 Teen Interns 4 Activities 5 History

[edit] Location

Camp Sealth is on Vashon Island, Washington. It consists of 400 acres of woodlands and wetlands. There are over 1.5 miles of beach along the Colvos Passage in the Puget Sound.

---

[edit] Campers

Camp Sealth is a co-educational camp serving children from 5-21. Many children from all backgrounds come to Camp Sealth, and Camp Sealth makes a strong effort to mainstream children with special needs and illnesses into its programs. Camp Sealth has worked with the American Diabetes Association since 1941. Camp Sealth also works with the American Lung Association for asthmatic campers, the Gluten Intolerant Group, and the PKU clinic at the University of Washington. Scholarships ("camperships") for low-income kids are available.

---

[edit] Programs

[edit] Regular Camp

Campers are divided into Units of cabin groups based on the grade they'll be going into next fall.

[edit] Explorers

For kids grades 1-3. Children are placed in Milky Way if they are boys or Misty Mountain if they are girls.

[edit] Adventure

For kids grades 4-5. Children are usually placed in Magic Hill if they are boys or Blueberry Hill if they are girls.

[edit] Discovery

For kids grades 6. Children are usually placed in Magic Hill if they are boys or Blueberry Hill if they are girls.

[edit] Village

For kids grades 7-8. Children are usually placed in Village South if they are boys or Village North if they are girls.

[edit] Horizon

For kids grades 9-12. Children are usually placed in Horizon.

[edit] Wrangler

Wrangler is Camp Sealth's horse camp. Children spend 2 hours a day learning about horses and how to ride and care for them. Levels of the horse program are Range Riders, Rodeo Riders, Pony Express, Gauchos, and Masters. In addition, there is an English riding specilaty session and Trail Riders, where kids ride on trails a lot.

[edit] Sailing

Kiwanis is Camp Sealth's windsurfing, sailing, and kayaking specialty camps. Depending on the session, kids spend 2 hours every day learning how to do a specific kind of boating. Kiwanis campers stay in teepes. Kiwanis is named after Kiwanis International, whose Seattle Chapter helped build Camp Sealth.

[edit] Tripping

There is one cabin of Tripping every session, where kids either take a trip outside of Camp Sealth or take day trips. Recent Tripping sessions include Vashon bike trips, Camano Island kayaking trips, rock climbing, and whitewater rafting in Oregon. There is a swimming and boating area where campers can play in the freezing water. Water is literally freezing! Have fun.

[edit] Teen Leadership

[edit] CITs and RSITs

The Counselor-In-Training (CIT) program and Riding-Staff-In-Training (RSIT, formerly WIT) program challenges kids grades 10-12 to learn more about working with kids or horses. CITs and RSITs visit other camps in the area and participate in workshops of how to work with kids. There are two sets of CITs and RSITs, formerly, there was a CIT I and CIT II program, but currently both sessions of CITs are equal in level. CITs shadow and do a live-in with a counselor. RSITs shadow and do a live-in with the riding staff.

[edit] Teen Interns

After a training session, teens going into 11th or 12th grade can be an intern with a cabin counselor, the riding staff, or program specialists. Interns are "junior staff" and are not paid.

---

[edit] Activities

Canoeing, rowing, swimming, fishing, kayaking, field games, archery, challenge course, broom hockey, nature, touch tanks, arts and crafts, an overnight, firebuilding, outdoor cooking, singing, sandcastles, beach walks, aqua luca, tea parties, hiking, making friends, council fire.

---

[edit] History

Camp Sealth was founded in 1920 on Blake Island, and moved to its present location on Vashon Island in 1921. The South End Forest Fire on Vashon burned a good deal of Camp Sealth in 1922,^[2] and campers helped fight the fire. Rounds Hall, the dining hall, was built in 1921, and it is dedicated to "Daddy" Rounds. It was renovated in 2005, giving it a better foundation and new roof. In 2005, a new Birdcage building was built, replaceing the Old Birdcage, which housed arts and crafts, and Nature Nook. The Green Birdcage is an eco-friendly building for environmental education in the off-season and arts and crafts during the summer. In the 1990s, a new Wrangler unit was built.

Camp Sealth was an all-girls camp prior to 1975, when Camp Fire USA became co-educational. Currently, about half the campers are male and half are female.