For nearly 20 years, Camp Fort Hill Day Camp as we know it has been a part of summer fun for area youngsters.
For nearly 20 years, Camp Fort Hill Day Camp as we know it has been a part of summer fun for area youngsters.
Day camp existed before that, but it wasn’t until 1999 that the week-long camps were revitalized by then board president Mort Wright, said Hunter Raiford, who has been day camp director every year since then, excluding the first year.
Since then, and still today, day camp consists of five week-long camps for children ages 7-12. While the majority of children who take part are from Sturgis, one week is devoted to children from Burr Oak and another to those from White Pigeon.
Each day of camp begins when children board the bus at 9 a.m. They don’t board the bus from Camp Fort Hill until 3 p.m. and there’s nothing but fun in between.
It starts with breakfast. Then, there’s morning activities including archery, climbing wall, arts and crafts and games which now include a gaga pit provided by fifth grade outdoor education, Raiford said.
Then comes lunch, during which time the campers recite the Camp Fort Hill cadence. After lunch, it’s waterfront time, when campers can take part in swimming, kayaking, canoeing, fishing and all the beach time they can get, Raiford said. In fact, if it’s a good day, students might even get the chance to go sailing.
Fridays are a special day at camp, Raiford said. In the mornings, activities include a marshmallow catapult launch and other competitions. Lunch on the beach includes hamburgers, then campers have the opportunity to go in the bog if they wish. After that, activities include “swamp the canoe,” a sand castle contest, and more.
Raiford said day camp participation has been up in recent years, following the recession. During 2017 day camp, between 40-50 campers participated each of the weeks.
One of those campers was now 9-year-old Nathan Cotton, a fourth-grader at Eastwood Elementary School in Sturgis.
“I love that place!” he said of Camp Fort Hill day camp, adding that it is the top camp for kids.
“It should be the only camp for kids,” he said. “It’s so much fun.”
Some of Cotton’s favorite activities at the camp are archery and fishing.
Cotton hopes to attend again this summer.
“Every year I can possibly stay there I will try to stay there,” he said.
Meanwhile, 9-year-old Karl Ahlgrim, a fourth-grader at Burr Oak Community Schools, has also spent the last two years at day camp.
“It’s fun,” he said of the camp, adding that he doesn’t have a favorite activity.
“I just like all of them,” he said.
Ahlgrim said he’d recommend the camp to others. He’s hoping to attend again this year and is excited about that, he said.
Sophia Merchant, a freshman at Sturgis High School, also has fond memories of day camps past.
“I had a really good time there,” she said of camp. “Everyone was really, really nice, the counsellors, the leaders. Everyone was super nice.”
Merchant was at Camp Fort Hill last year in eighth grade for “Survivor Day.”
“That was really fun,” she said. “Just going back and seeing everything brought back a lot of really good memories.”
Merchant remembers that some of her favorite activities at day camp were the beach and archery. Going on the sailboat was also “really cool,” she said.
Merchant would absolutely recommend day camp to kids. “There’s a lot of physical activity which is really good for a lot of kids,” she said. “I had a really good experience there. I loved every second of it. I looked forward to it in the mornings.”
Callaway Bird, 17, a senior at Culver Military Academy, has memories of day camp both as a camper and as a camp counsellor.
“As a camper I always remember especially rock climbing and fishing and kayaking,” he said. “I thought that was a lot of fun. It was some of the highlights of my summer.”
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Bird said he remembers being young and looking up to the camp counsellors.
“Now that I was a counsellor, the best part was knowing that those kids look up to me and that everything I do, they’re watching and that they want to be like me,” he said. “I think that was really rewarding. I loved seeing the smiles on their faces every day and seeing them try new things and have a lot of fun doing it.”
Bird said being a counsellor helped with his teamwork and leadership skills.
“Always working with the other staff members to make every kids’ camp experience a good one, that’s tough to do,” he said. “I think that really helped my teamwork there. With the leadership skills, with all the kids looking up to me and being a role model for them, really made me a better person, knowing that I always had eyes on me.”
Bird said he believes that will translate to his future career, working with others and being a leader among them. He plans to study business and management in college next year.
“I definitely want to be working as a team,” he said. “I feel that those are some of my stronger skill sets: leadership and teamwork. I think that the Camp Fort Hill experience really helped me develop those.”
Bird said he’s unsure what his summer plans will entail, but if he’s in the Sturgis area, he will definitely be a day camp counsellor again.
The registration process for 2018 Camp Fort Hill Day Camp will begin after spring break, Raiford said. Camp scholarships are available, he added.
“We appreciate everybody who contributes to provide scholarships for kids,” he said in summer 2017. “Nobody has ever turned a scholarship down. That’s the strength of the community here.”