Camp Wasewagan

When I applied to go to camp through ICEP in 1992; when I was just finishing high school in Denmark, I had no idea how much it would add to and change my life and my outlook on the world.

During the first days at camp while we (all the counselors and staff) while we were all still bonding and getting to know eachother, a big earthquake hit us. We were not far from the epicentre and the damages from the earthquake meant that we had no water and electricity for a while. Now, that was a real bonding experience and it played a great part in the closeness that the whole staff felt during the Summer.

I have made some great friends and some very lasting friendships from that Summer of 1992. I am sure that I will always stay in touch with them and we will see eachother on occation. Our doors are always open and we welcome a visit from a dear camp friend.

Camp Wasewagan is a camp situated near Big Bear in the San Bernadino Mountains which are just east of L.A. The camp is used for Summer Camp to children from late June to mid August every Summer. The children at camp are aged 8-18. They come from regular homes as well as institutions in the LA area. The camp is a part of the Camp Fire association. For more information about Camp Wasewagan

The camp consists of wooden cabins devided into 4 areas holding its own age group of kids. Aside from that, it has outdoor showers and bathrooms, a volleyball court, basketball court (primitive), an arts and crafts house, fire places, dining hall, nurses office, and a swimming pool.

Counselors have their own group of 8-12 kids for a week at a time. Each group has its own cabin with bunks. We sleep outdoors unless it is inclement weather in which case we sleep inside the cabins.

A unit director is in charge of each age group and together with the counselors plan unit activities. On top of the unit activities different activities are planned for the whole camp. E.g. olympics, theme dinners, Flag ceremony, Inspiration, Camp fire, (Fire drills), Counselor hunts.

The group activities could consist of for instance: hiking in the woods, fishing in the creek, arts & crafts, nature walks, basketball, volleyball, other games outdoors or indoors, making ice cream, preparing food by the camp fire, scavenger hunts etc. Once in every session we would have activities for the whole camp e.g. Wasewagan Olympics, counselor hunt.

Foreign counselors generally have great success in introducing some of their local games, songs and other activities which may teach the children about other cultures.

I will add some photos from my summer at Camp Wasewagan here.