YMCA Frost Valley

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Frost Valley YMCA is camping, environmental education, and conferencing center located in New York State's Catskill Mountains. Founded in 1901 as Camp Wawayanda, the camp moved to its present location in 1958.

During the summer, Frost Valley runs a summer camp for 6-15 year-olds, most of whom are from New York City and its surrounding metro area. Throughout the rest of the year, Frost Valley hosts school groups and other organizations for environmental education and conferencing activities.

Contents 1 Summer Camp 1.1 Villages 1.2 Mainstreaming at Camp (MAC) 1.3 Tokyo-Frost Valley Partnership 1.4 Ruth Carol Gottscho Kidney Foundation 1.5 Counselor-In-Training Program 1.6 Adventure Programs 2 External links

[edit] Summer Camp

The summer camp program at Frost Valley runs for eight weeks (four sessions, 12 days each). Each session starts on a Sunday and ends on a Friday, and nearly 500 campers attend each session. About 250 summer-time staff arrive the week before the first session, many of whom were campers when they were younger. Campers are broken up into villages by age and live together in cabin groups. Each village has a corresponding brother or sister village for the opposite gender of the same age. Camp is separated in to two halves (by age), Camp Wawayanda and Camp Henry Hird. During the day, the camp schedule includes Specialties, Waterfront, Sports & Games, Feeling Good and Evening Program.

The Wellness Philosophy has been a part of camp for several decades. The camp promotes healthy eating and exercise, and to the campers' dismay, does not allow candy at camp.

[edit] Villages

The villages in Wawayanda are: Pokey (Pocahontas) and Totem, Suskey (Susquenhanna) and Forest, Lakota and Outpost. The villages in Hird are: Sacky (Sacagawea) and Hemlock, Tacoma and Lenape, Windsong and Pac (Quinnipiac). There are also several mixed-gender villages with special focuses: Iscusfa (with a focus on the arts), Woodwise (with a focus on nature), Sycamore (for the oldest campers, with special trips and leadership projects) and MAC (Mainstreaming at Camp, for those with developmental disabilities).

Various other villages have also existed in the history of the camp, including Sequoia, an adventure village, and Phoenix, the precursor to Sycamore.

Villages are located in groupings of cabins or lodges and most villages are usually 30-40 campers each. Campers live in cabins or lodges that sleep eight per room.

[edit] Mainstreaming at Camp (MAC)

Mainstreaming at Camp (MAC) is a village formed with YAI (Young Adult Institute) for children and young adults with developmental disabilities.

[edit] Tokyo-Frost Valley Partnership

[edit] Ruth Carol Gottscho Kidney Foundation

The dialysis center occupies a wing of the infirmary and allows campers with renal disease to attend camp, including those who need dialysis and those who have had kindney transplants.

[edit] Counselor-In-Training Program

The Counselor in Training (CIT) program is a month-long program for 16-year-olds who have an interest in becoming camp counselors. The program consists of one session in-camp and one session on an out-trip. During the in-camp portion, CITs work together to plan and run programs for campers. The out-trip has varied in length from 6 to 10 days and includes backpacking through the Catskill Mountains. Many CITs return to camp the following year to become Junior Counselors when they are 17 years-old.

[edit] Adventure Programs

The out-trip program sends groups to destinations across the country for canoeing, biking and camping trips.

[edit] External links

• Frost Valley's Homepage