26 Jun Second Annual Camp Catalyst is a Success
New Hope hosted its second annual Camp Catalyst from June 19th-23rd. Camp Catalyst is a unique summer camp experience for children with and without disabilities. This camp empowers campers to be catalysts for change in their communities who can redefine what it means to have a disability or to be a friend to someone with a disability. The camp was led by Amanda Boyd, New Hope’s Manager of Achieving Inclusion and Meaning program. She was assisted by Jeannie Csire, Annie Evans, Terri Gee, Noah Rapp, Abagil Reed and Madalyn Reed throughout the week.
During the week, campers participated in traditional summer camp activities such as tie-dying, crafts, jewelry making, relays, games and more! This year, each day had a theme around which activities were centered. The themes for the week included Beach Day, Movie Day, Olympic Day, Safari Day and Carnival Day.
On Beach Day, one of everyone’s favorite activity was making slime. The slime consisted of sand and seashells in order to make it ‘beach slime’. On Movie Day, there were many activities using popcorn and everyone got to dress up as movie characters. One of the favorite activities of the day was playing movie themed Pictionary while eating popcorn. On Olympic Day, they made Olympic medals and participated in relays. On Safari Day, some of their favorite activities included playing pin-the-tail on the zebra and having a safari scavenger hunt. Finally, on Carnival Day, everyone participated in fun mini–games and were able to win prizes. Overall, campers had a ton of fun participating in a variety of different activities, and many of the campers said they can’t wait to come back next year.
Noah Rapp, Marian University medical school student, was a camp counselor for this year’s camp. When speaking about the week, he said, “As the week went on, I saw growth in each of the participants as they got more comfortable with each other and with the activities. The kids all had a great time, and I know they will be great advocates for the disability community in the future.”
Overall, this year’s camp was very successful, and we can’t wait for next year!
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