For over 85 years, Crossroads has provided young people with access to experiential learning, social-emotional skill development, and relationship-building with peers and mentors. Our residential programs introduce children to unique challenges and growth opportunities that can be applied to their home, school, and community contexts. Participants become independent and resilient while demonstrating optimism, cooperation, and respect for others. Ultimately, our young people come to realize that they are capable of far more than they ever realized.
A summer day at camp begins with children waking in their cabins at 7:30am and joining their peers in the dining hall for breakfast at 8:00am. During that family style meal, daily announcements are made, the theme of the day is introduced, and ?shout-outs? are extended to campers and staff for the previous day?s accomplishments. Campers then transition to a rotation of three morning program blocks: instructional swim lessons, arts and crafts, and guided outdoor recreation (learning to canoe, paddle board, ride a bike, etc.). After lunch at 12:30pm, campers participate in two afternoon ?free choice? sessions that include:
? Outdoor Pursuits: hiking, ropes courses, boating, mountain biking, archery, wilderness adventures
? Free swim: always the most popular!
?. Team sports: soccer, basketball, softball, track and field, and unique-to-Crossroads sports
?. Creative Arts: crafts, painting, lip-sync battle, improv, dancing, performance drama
Campers wind down the afternoon with a ?siesta? hour of reading, napping or visiting with friends. Dinner begins at 5:30pm and is a celebration of the day; the meal almost always involves a spirited
dance party and friendly performance competitions. At 7pm, the Evening Program begins; activities include campfires (with marshmallows of course), sing-alongs, and performances developed over the course of the week during arts and crafts blocks. The day concludes with campers returning to their cabins for Insight, which is a counselor-led discussion that reflects on the day?s challenges, successes, and lessons learned. Campers then have a half-hour of quiet reading or personal time before lights out at 9:00pm. There are no screens at our camps?we are a TV-, Xbox-, Playstation-, smartphone-free zone.