If you’re here that means you’re thinking about sending your son to overnight camp. That gift could change your son’s life. It could also mean you don’t see your son for two, four, or eight weeks. How does all that make you feel? Excited? Nervous? Think it’s too soon? Think you’ll miss him too much? You’re not alone if you’re experiencing mixed emotions.
My parents poured every ounce of energy they had into my health and happiness growing up, but I also can’t imagine life without overnight camp. Many of our current families feel the same way.
When kids go off to school we hope they are in good hands, learning new things, develop healthy habits, and meeting new people. A great overnight camp provides that too, just without the classroom environment. Summer is a time to be outside, find out who we truly are, live with the good kind of stress and no technology.
We have an entire philosophy on what makes Menominee unique, but it can really be summed up like this: we want to help you raise the boy that your son wants to be, in the most fun and active environment possible. That means providing a nurturing and inspiring environment to:
Build and keep relationships
Embrace diversity and expand horizons
Increase self-confidence and leadership skills
Learn what it means to be part of a community
Build independence (can also apply to parents)
Below you will find more detailed information on how we partner with our campers and their parents to provide an impactful and memorable experience for our boys. Our partnership begins well before camp starts and continues well after the summer into the “off-season”. We are in this together, and we are excited for this journey! You can also click here to learn more about our various programs and start figuring out which is the right fit for you and your family. Each program description also features a video showcasing activities. We can’t wait to meet you and get started!
For the Love of Camp,
Jason Feldgreber – Owner/Director
Parenting is hard!
What a strange job you all have. You try to get through each day with some sanity, but also somehow plan out the years to give your child what they need. You are working to raise a kid you enjoy hanging out with, and at the same time, guide him to be a person who can have strong relationships, a great career, and make the world a better place. You are all amazing, you deserve a break, and we are here to help!
At Menominee we share those goals that you have for your son. We know the person you are hoping he becomes and we want to be an extension of the work you have tirelessly put into his development. You have spent years becoming an expert in your child, and we have spent decades becoming experts in helping boys become good men, in all their strengths, challenges, gifts, goals and struggles. We have honed six traits that can help shape our boys into men who are proud of themselves and the lives they create. We call this The Menominee Way and, with our core values guiding us, camper goals, parent profiles, transparency and attention to detail we have created the ideal home for camper growth.
Every first-year camper/family will be assigned one of our Camper Development Team (CDT) members as their go-to Director for their first summer at camp. This CDT member will be in touch with every family prior to their son’s first session at camp to discuss camper and parent goals, as well as how to set each camper up for success during the summer.
During the summer, the CDT member will check in with the boys on a regular basis and supplement the support already being given to the boys by their counselors. First-year parents can expect the following points of contact from their CDT:
What actually happened at camp this summer? How was my son in the cabin? How did he grow the most? Did he accomplish any goals?
As parents it can be hard to parse through short letters from the boys that contain little or no substantive information from the summer. To help you get a full picture of how your son’s summer went, we have created the MyMenominee Megaphone. All of our campers finishing 6th grade and under will receive this 1-2 page newsletter at the end of the summer containing information about your son’s time at camp. This could include overall notes from admin, counselor feedback, areas of growth we would like to see in the future, major achievements and pins earned, other highlights, and camper feedback “in his own words”. These will also be used as a starting point for the counselors next summer to help with continuity and growth year over year.
