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Summer Camp at Camp Gray Information Packet

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Table of Contents

3. About Camp Gray —

Philosophy & Values

4. 2019 Dates

5. Activity Highlights

6. Cabin Life at the Coast

7. Camp Food

8. Camp Map

9. FAQ

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  Our Philosophy

About Camp Gray

Our Values and Our Vision

In the 1960’s, building on the success of OMSI’s first residential site at the Hancock Field Station in eastern Oregon, OMSI began Science Safari camping programs at various locations along the Oregon Coast. Since then, OMSI’s coastal camps have always been about exploration and adventure. Between San Juan Island, Washington down to the Redwoods in Northern California, decades of OMSI campers have hiked, canoed, and explored the coast.

In 2016, The Coastal Discovery Center at Camp Gray opened as the new home for OMSI’s coastal programs. It was the culmination of a five-year, ten-million dollar capital campaign and sixty years of programming west of the Cascades. Camp Gray now serves more than 4,000 participants annually from across the United States, as well as from Japan.

Nestled between Yaquina Bay and the expansive dunes of South Beach State Park, there are numerous opportunities to explore the wide range of ecosystems on the Oregon Coast. On a walk straight from the cabin door to the beach, campers investigate the connections between the ocean, geology, and ecology.

OMSI summer camp is designed for children entering 2nd through 12th grade to learn about science, the natural world, themselves, and each other while forming lifelong friendships. We achieve these goals by fostering a spirit of community, adventure, and growth.

 

We believe that every child deserves the chance to be outdoors and learn new things in a safe and inclu-sive community. We take a traditional summer camp approach and turn it on its head by weaving in themes of adventure, science, exploration, and community into daily life. Our experiential, concept-based style of teaching is effective, nurturing, inspiring, and memorable.

Campers come to Camp Gray bubbling with excitement, enthusiasm, and curiosity. It is our goal to en-sure they leave with a greater sense of confidence, independence, and knowledge. The residential camp experience can be genuinely life-changing. We foster an environment that ensures each child feels wel-come, special, and as though they can learn and grow as individuals while forming a sense of belonging in this unique community. It is our hope that staff, parents, and campers learn something new, have fun, and discover new and long lasting friendships.

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2nd & 3rd Grade

Camps for young children going into 2nd or 3rd grade next school year.

Camp Gray 2019 Dates

4th & 5th Grade Camps for children going into 4th or 5th

grade next school year.

9th - 12th Grade Camps for teens going into 9th, 10th, 11th, or

12th grade next school year.

Week 1: Naturally Creative

Week 2: Yaquina Quest

Week 3: Eco-Explorers (3-day)

Week 4: Pacific Coast Scientist

Week 5: Naturally Creative

Week 9: Yaquina Quest

Week 10: Pacific Coast Scientist

Week 1: Seashore Explorers

Week 3: Eco-Explorers (3-day)

Week 5: Seashore Explorers

Camps for those going into 6th, 7th, or 8th grade next school year.

6th - 8th Grade

Week 2: OMSI Surfing Adventures

Week 4: Backpack: Ollalie

Weeks 5 & 6: Backpack: Canadian Rockies (2 weeks)

Weeks 6 & 7: OMSI Ambassadors (2 weeks)

Week 7: Backpack: Wallowas

Weeks 7 & 8: Coastal Documentary Explorers

Week 1: Coastal Ramblers

Week 2: Expedition Oregon (10-day)

Week 4: Coastal Ramblers

Week 6: Coastal Ramblers

Week 7: Design Naturalists

Week 8: Backpack: Teen Girls

Week 9: Salt, Sand, and Sea Foam

Week 9: Backpack: Three Sisters

Week 10: Design Naturalists

Week 10: Backpack: Steens Mountain

All camps are five days (M-F) unless otherwise noted.

Financial Aid may be available. Visit: https://omsi.edu/camps-classes-financial-aid.

OMSI members receive 20% off all camps!

More summer camp opportunities available! See Camp Hancock for more sessions!

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10

June 17-21

June 24-28

July 1—5 July 8—12

July 15-19

July 22-26

July 29-Aug 2

Aug 5—9 Aug 12-16

Aug 19-23

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Activity Highlights

Coastal Ecology Camps

● 2nd-3rd: Seashore Explorers– tide pools, marine mammals

● 4th-5th: Pacific Coast Scientists– tide pools, shark ecology, squid dissection, build a whale at Hatfield Marine Science Center

● 6th-8th: Coastal Ramblers– tide pools, squid dissection, Sea Life Cruise, coastal birds

Adventure and Surfing Camps

● 4th-5th: Yaquina Quest– hike, raft building, orienteering, fire building

● 6th-8th: Salt, Sand, and Sea Foam– surf lessons, canoe, camp

● 6th-8th: Expedition Oregon- surf lessons, canoe, camp 2 nights, Sea Life Cruise

● 9th-12th: OMSI Surfing Adventures– 3 day surf course, kayak in Yaquina Bay, hike

Science Art and Design Camps

● 2nd-3rd: Seashore Explorers– tide pool & fossil art

● 4th-5th: Naturally Creative– sand sculpting, fish prints, collaborative art

● 6th-8th: Design Naturalists– make coast-inspired art with artists from the Pacific Northwest College of Art

● 9th-12th: Coastal Documentary Explorers– film and edit your own documentary with NW Documentary

Backpacking Trips

● 6th-8th- Teen Girls, Three Sisters Wilderness, Steens Mountain

● 9th-12th– Wallowas, Olallie Mountain, and 2 week Canadian Rockies

Each program at Camp Gray has a theme. Whether it is action, adventure, science, or an excursion, there is something for everyone at every age level. Through the age groups, our camps follow a progression and campers will experience new and different skills, challenges, and activities. Below are some highlights.

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Cabin Life at the Coast

Cabin time is a highlight of the camp experience. It is where campers bond as a group, make friends, get into a bit of mischief, and have epic experiences they’ll remember forever. Campers get to know other kids from all of the camps, but the cabin groups are like little families.

Campers live in cabins by age group and gender. Cabins generally have 1-2 counselors and 5-7 campers. All cabins have electricity, screened windows, air conditioning, and updated, comfortable mattresses. Each cabin area has a bathroom connected by covered porch. Each bathroom has multiple toilet and shower stalls with curtained changing areas.

After breakfast, campers have a short clean up period to participate in community stewardship activities called Kitchen Party and Scrub Club. There’s also time to work as a team to clean the cabin before heading off to their first activity. Cabin inspection occurs randomly each day while campers are at their activities and the cabins compete for the cleanest cabin and the highly respected, and much coveted, clean bunk award.

Campers are together or in their cabin area during rest time each day. This is a time for relaxing, hanging out, writing letters and re-charging for the rest of the day.

Evening activities are generally active, all camp activities but some are age group specific or by cabins, enabling groups to spend time together, play, have bonding time, and much more. After evening programs campers have time for personal hygiene activities and will do a meaningful activity with their counselor (like story time or sharing highlights from the day) before bed.

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Campers and staff alike love the food here. We serve buffet-style meals and campers sit by choice at meals. Breakfast and dinner are served and eaten inside Meyer Hall, and we pack lunch to take with us after breakfast.

Because we are conservation-minded, and cognizant of the incredible resources needed for food production, transport, preparation, and storage, we like to keep an eye on our food waste in a fun way. After every meal, we weigh and track any food waste. We refer to it as ‘ort’, and The Ort Report is often a highlight of the meal (close second to dessert, of course).

Dietary Restrictions

We are able to provide for a number of dietary restrictions, including vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free options. When possible, we create variations on the main meal– gluten free pasta, vegetarian sausage, or corn tortillas. Whether our specialty meals correspond to the main offering or not, we always make sure that there is a healthy and delicious option for all. While we can do our best to avoid cross-contamination, we cannot guarantee that some allergens are not present. We pride ourselves on meal service and catering to dietary restrictions, and are open to inquiries and problem-solving in advance whenever necessary.

This is how we do “camp” food.

Camp Food

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Camp Map

3400 SW Abalone St, South Beach, OR 97366

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Can you accommodate non-binary, non-gender conforming, trans, and other LGBTQ youth? How does that work?

Yes! We can, and we have successfully done so. OMSI respects, values, and celebrates the unique attributes, characteristics and perspectives that make each person who they are. At camp, we don’t want anyone to feel left out. We want to provide an open and welcoming atmosphere where everyone feels safe and empowered to be themselves. Because camps are traditionally co-ed, we have the obvious barriers for the gender diverse in sleeping and hygiene areas, but we’re committed to dismantling those barriers in a respectful way. Since each individual is different and has different needs, we encourage you to reach out if you have any specific questions or concerns. We appreciate any opportunity to speak directly with families about how we can work together to make the OMSI summer camp experience worry-free for everyone regardless of orientation, gender, or any other identity.

I’m afraid my child will be homesick. How do you address that?

Homesickness is very common at camp and we address it with kindness and compassion. Each child has a different experience with it so we approach each case as is appropriate. Rest assured, we don’t give up easily! Our goal is to keep kids at camp and use our professional strategies to overcome fears and anxiety. Our staff may or may not call the primary contact to discuss strategies, depending on the severity. We usually discourage campers speaking with parents directly, as it tends to make homesickness worse. The vast majority do overcome, and end up not wanting to leave!

How do you select and train your staff, and what standards do the camps maintain?

OMSI strictly adheres to standards of the American Camp Association (ACA) and the county health department when it comes to hiring and supervision of staff and volunteers. Our staff go through an extensive application, interview, reference, and hiring process. All staff members (paid and unpaid) submit a voluntary disclosure statement, and are required to undergo a criminal background check, which includes a check on the National Sex Offender Public Website. Instructional staff members spend a month in various trainings and certification courses, and all summer staff members participate in a week-long staff training. Counselors are certified in first aid & CPR, and instructors are certified wilderness first responders with commercial driver licenses. Both of our camps are accredited by the ACA, and are inspected annually by their county health department.

Click here for more information about the accreditation standard for staffing and supervision.

I heard every camper gets a free OMSI camp t-shirt at the end of the week. Is that true??

That rumor is absolutely true! We distribute t-shirts to everyone who attends, at the end of the week. We encourage campers to wear the shirts home, and most choose to flaunt their new OMSI swag.

For more information visit omsi.edu/camps-classes-FAQ or contact us at (503)797-4661

Frequently Asked Questions