Camp Fosters Healthy Relationships

Wisconsin State Journal :: FRONT :: A5

Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Gayle Worland

For Noelle Johnson, 11, of Chaska, Minn., Camp Endeavor turned out to be less "weird" than she had dreaded. In fact, she made a great discovery: "I'm the smallest girl in the camp," she says. "It's kind of a relief. I always felt I was the largest one at school, but here I fit in."

Like her fellow campers, Noelle speaks reverently about the camp's Friday night dances, the biggest social event of the week. The 2007 camp enrollment of 26 girls and 10 boys made the guys a hot property - an ego boost and new experience for many of the males, says co-director Tut Gramling.

"We thought about a single-sex camp just for girls, since we always get more girls than boys," she says. "But I think the opportunities that are here for healthy girl-boy relationships to develop are such an important piece of it. Some of these kids would not have the same opportunities at school. They are typical kids. At this age, the opposite sex is a big motivator."

Unlike adults, the kids who attend Camp Endeavor "don't have the years of habits and the beliefs that their bodies can't change," says Gramling. "They see that their bodies can change, and we really build on that. It's important to me that these kids know that their bodies can be the way they want them to be. If they feel defeated, they're never going to get anywhere."

Kailey Olenski, 14, of McHenry, Ill., first attended Camp Endeavor when she was 11 but gained back the weight she lost, and then some, she says. She returned to camp this year because she'll start high school in the fall, "and I wanted a jump-start," she says.

"Plus I understand more what to do now," she says. "This time it's sinking in better, and it'll stick."

Rebecca Ross, 15, of Eden Prairie, Minn., lost 15 pounds at camp last year, and an additional 20 over the school year. She and a friend tried kick-boxing for the first time at Camp Endeavor and discovered they liked it, she says. When they got home, they signed up for another kick-boxing class.