Do not trust your son to be well cared for or treated fairly at this camp. They will sacrifice him to protect their own.
A year ago, we would have given this camp 5 stars. Well a lot can change in a year and now if there was a zero star option, we would choose it. Our son was invited back here in 2023 for his second year after a great first year in 2022. We initially signed him up for 4 weeks and were greeted with great enthusiasm when we extended to 7 weeks.
Unfortunately, camp leadership changed in 2023. On the third night of camp, our son was assaulted in his bunk by another boy. The boy hit him in the head with a metal water bottle and our son sustained a mild concussion. By all accounts, this assault was unprovoked. The boy was allowed to remain at camp and again assaulted our son several days later by punching him in the head. This boy was again not removed. Ultimately, our son retaliated after ongoing antagonization
by this boy and as a result, was sent home from camp.
We received a call in the late morning on a Thursday, that he was going home that day. We live over 350 miles away. Our son was not allowed to pack his own things, or say goodbye to his friends. He was unilaterally booked by the camp on a flight to come home without our input as to timing/airport or having a true understanding of what had happened. We were not given the opportunity to come pick him up. He flew as an unaccompanied minor and no one from camp called to ensure that he had made it home safely. There was no communication from the camp with us in the subsequent days regarding details of what had happened as we were promised there would be. When communication was reestablished by us four days later, the Director denied that our son had ever had a concussion despite the camp nurse telling us that he did. Multiple attempts to gain insight and information regarding the events of our son's dismissal were initially ignored. After our repeated requests, it was eventually communicated that our son was not behaving well but the circumstances remained vague without specific examples. We were told he was angry, as we would have also been after being assaulted by someone who seemingly received no consequences, was allowed to remain in camp, and continued to antagonize our son.
No concerns regarding our son's behaviour were raised while he was at camp until the day we were told he was leaving. We had been calling daily to check up on him given his injury. At one point, our son expressed a desire to come home at which time we asked the Director if he thought our son should come home. He unequivocally said no.
Ultimately, we learned that the boy who assaulted our son is somehow related to one of the other camp directors which made everything make more sense. read more
