Camp PALS Blog

Our blog is now located at blog.camppals.com!

My name is Steve Cannon and I was a counselor at Camp PALS last summer. For a class I am currently taking, I was asked to write a paper on the role of leadership in someone’s life that I knew. The first name to come to my mind was Jenni Newbury’s because of all the amazing contributions she has made to the Down syndrome community. Here’s an excerpt from my paper, reflecting on my own personal experiences as a first time counselor last summer:

As a counselor, I was blown away with the impact the week-long experience had on me. While the camp is directed towards creating a rewarding, unique, and fun experience for the campers, I feel like I may have taken as much if not more away from my experience as many of the campers. Previously, I had never been exposed to a world centered on teens with disabilities, and I had never spent much time with my peers who were disabled. The week-long emergence into this world broadened my horizons to an unprecedented level, and changed my entire perspective of the world. No longer were the mentally disabled any different than myself of any of the other counselors; we were all friends, peers, roommates, buddies, teammates, and teenagers. While I went into the camp feeling a distinct line between myself and the campers, that line quickly began to blur and then disappear as I realized how my closed-mindedness in the past was shameful. [The] creation of the camp had transformed me.

About 2 weeks ago we surpassed the number of camper applications that we received, in total, last year. Since that time, we have seen camper applications continue to fly in. While an increase in camper applications from the prior year is expected, we have been blown away by the magnitude of the increase this year. To give you a rough idea, as of February 1, we had over 10 times as many camper applications as we did the same time last year.

While we are excited by the amount of interest in Camp PALS, we are now faced with the difficult situation of deciding who will be able to attend this year. We are constantly analyzing our decision making methods and welcome your thoughts on the fairest way to proceed. Email us at directors@camppals.com with your comments or questions.

We’re excited to share with you a 2 minute video that we put together using footage from this past summer. Enjoy!

Hello everyone!

On behalf of the Camp PALS Directors, we hope you had a wonderful New Year’s! We have some exciting news, delivered by way of video by our very own Jason Newbury:

Watch a brief video showing the history of Camp PALS!

Watch counselors learn the Camp PALS theme song on the night before camper arrival this past June!

So this past weekend Jenni Newbury and I held an event entitled “Turning the World Upside Down” at Princeton University.

Jenni actually approached me with the idea right after coming home from our incredible week at Camp Pals this past summer and we had been working on it ever since. At the convention, over 370 people attended who had a family member who was affected by Down Syndrome. While the parents and adults had the opportunity to listen to various speakers and exhibitors dealing with issues of interest in the Down Syndrome community, their children with Down Syndrome and their siblings were paired 1:1 with a Princeton University volunteer. While their parents were sitting in on these speakers, their children were taken to an indoor carnival with their Princeton volunteer where we organized a number of fun, engaging events such as an indoor parachute activity, arts and crafts, a scavenger hunt and an interactive story telling session! After the parents were done visiting the various speakers, they picked up their kids from Whig and we served them dinner in two of the largest common rooms on campus. During the dinner, we provided entertainment including belly dancers and a capella singers. Once everyone was done with dinner, we all reconvened for closing remarks and a performance by the famous Princeton Nassoons, Princeton’s oldest a capella group. The event was an incredible success and Jenni and I plan on planning many more for the future. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it…you made it all worth it.

Sincerely,
Connor Diemand-Yauman
Camp PALS Counselor

P.S. Click here to see pictures from the event.

Last Saturday, November 10th a Camp Pals reunion was held for campers from the Philadelphia area. The event was a great success and really felt like a reunion with over 20 attendees! It started at around 4 pm and lasted until 7:30. By the time 4:30 rolled around, the room that we had reserved was filled with attendees and volunteers. Everyone was excited and chatting away after being reunited with friends. The favorite activity of the day, by far, was laser tag, but other activities included arcade games, soccer, basketball, and drawing. By the time 7:30 came everyone was tired, but extremely happy. The event left everyone anxious to return to Camp PALS.

Click here to see pictures from the event.

Hi! My name is Christine and I am a freshman at the University of Pennsylvania. This year, a bunch of my classmates and I got together to plan a Camp Pals reunion for campers from the Philadelphia area at an arcade called Grand Slam USA. Although the preparation for the event was hard work, it has also been a lot of fun. We can’t wait until this Saturday to see the smiles on attendees’ and volunteers’ faces! What could be more exciting then an event that makes everyone happy? We are counting down the days until November 10th. I hope to see you there!