Welcome to Agassiz Village  
Founded by Mr. and Mrs. Harry E. Burroughs 

A Summer Camp for Youth Ages 8-17    
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Agassiz Village
Administrative Office
238 Bedford Street
Suite 8
Lexington, MA 02420
Phone: (781) 860-0200
 
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Agassiz Village Summer Camp Program


Thank you for your interest in our program. We are looking forward to a great summer season and hope you will be able to join us up at camp.

Agassiz Village is a non-profit organization, which provides residential outdoor camping opportunities for youth in the greater Boston area as well as other parts of New England. Our camp is in Poland, ME on a beautiful 400-acre lakefront property with year-round office in Lexington, MA. The majority of our campers are from low income families or are otherwise disadvantaged. Approximately 15% of our campers are also children with physical disabilities.

PROGRAM:

Responsibility
Environment
Self-discovery
Peace
Enjoyment
Challenge
Tolerance 		Agassiz Village provides affordable recreation and educational opportunities for children that develop character, skills, and knowledge. Each session we serve over 100 children in our various programs – programs that develop R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Many of the children we serve are challenged each day by poverty, neglect, violence, or lack of hope. Not only do we strive to bring the message of R.E.S.P.E.C.T. to their lives, but in doing so we provide the opportunity to discover their own potential. Our program aims to fully integrate every camper from any background with or without disability. Through positive role modeling and fun and educational activities we create an experience of a lifetime.

As our campers are of various ages from 8 to 17, we realize that their needs also differ depending on their age. Various age group programs are designed for all different ages. They are not only fun to participate in, but also age appropriate and challenge our campers to further themselves socially and emotionally. Here are descriptions of our programs for various age groups:

  • Traditional Overnight Camp (Ages 8 – 13)
    Our overnight camp programs are an investment in the future, to inspire and enable all children, with or without disabilities, to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible leaders. This traditional A.V. camp program is for campers ages 8-13 who will have an option to attend one and/or two-week sessions (please see the Summer 2012 Schedule). The goals for each of the programs and activities are to create an intentional experience through age specific, life skills oriented, programming. Each program is educational so our campers learn important life skills (such as tolerance, behavior management, cooperation, etc) while having fun. Agassiz Village traditional daily activities include but are not limited to: swimming, arts & crafts, nature and outdoor living skills, sports and fitness, music, dance, high and low ropes courses, and boating. All of these programs will be developed and lead by qualified and experienced instructors. Each camper group will go through at least five different scheduled activities every day during the session with each day ending with a different evening activity that will range from small group (cabin) activities to all camp events and celebrations. Through these every day programs as well as special/theme days and events we strive to provide a well-rounded experience for each of our campers that is fun and meaningful.
  • Teen Leadership Program (Ages 14 – 15)
    This is a unique Agassiz Village program that offers more advanced programming and growth opportunities for our older campers. Our teen leadership program will run Sessions II and III and is for those campers who are 14-15 years old and are motivated to better themselves and are open to new and exciting possibilities. It is an intentional two-week program focused on teen leadership skills development and community service. The first week of the session will focus on various leadership topics and skills: group building, goal setting, tolerance and compromise, integrity, role modeling, community service, etc. The second week will focus on camp and community service projects. Campers in this program will also enjoy more responsibility and choice in many of the traditional A.V. camp experience like swimming, canoeing, dance, sports, evening and other activities as part of the overall Agassiz Village community. The goal of this program is to raise our camper self-identity and awareness and develop specific leadership skills and values through purposeful experiential education to fulfill our mission: Today’s Youth, Tomorrow’s Leaders!
  • Staff-In-Training (S.I.T.) Program (Ages 16-17)
    This 4-week, tuition free, invitation-only leadership training program is the last step in our camper programming and is geared towards campers/teenagers who want to challenge and develop key leadership and job skills, and, also, would like to become Agassiz Village camp staff in future summers. It is an opportunity to experience camp in a unique way and learn a wide array of valuable life and social skills. This program will run 4 consecutive weeks (Sessions II and III). During that time at camp all S.I.T.’s will: enjoy some of our traditional camp activities; go through extensive leadership skills training with various hands-on activities, projects and workshops; get a chance to assist and lead in various program and other camp areas; learn hands-on camp counselor skills by spending an entire week with assigned A.V. counselor and camper group; learn about many other areas of camp. S.I.T.’s will also receive a weekly stipend upon successful completion of the program Because of the specific nature of this program, all potential S.I.T.’s will go through a short ‘interview’ process prior to being accepted to the program. Overall this program will not only provide an excellent skill-set for being an Agassiz Village staff member in the future, but also a great skill-set for any work or social environment outside of camp.

Activities:
This is a list of various activities offered for all programs at camp:
  • High & Low Ropes Courses – for group and individual challenge.
  • Sports & Fitness – for campers to learn and play a variety of different sports and active games.
  • Nature/Outdoor Living Skills – to enjoy and participate in various hikes, nature projects and experiments, survival and general outdoor living skills, and variety of fun games.
  • Arts & Crafts – to try out a variety of craft activities and art projects, as well as ceramics and pottery.
  • Music – to enjoy various aspects of music and give a shot in variety of skills like from voice to various instruments.
  • Dance – to enjoy and participate in making up various dance routines, projects and events.
  • Boating/Canoeing – to learn various paddling techniques, canoe around in our lake and enjoy various canoe activities like various games while canoeing as well as our own Canoe Regatta.
  • Swimming – to enjoy and cool off swimming in the lake as well as learn some basic swimming skills.
  • Campfires – to enjoy s’mores, a lot of camp songs as well as watch and participate in skits.
  • Camp-outs on the island – to enjoy an overnight camping with you group on our island in the middle of Thompson Lake.
  • Tubing on the lake – to have fun tubing on Thompson Lake on a hot summer day.
  • Evening Activities and Special Days/Events – to enjoy a variety of large and small group activities like: Halloween, Pirate Night, Carnival, Christmas In July, Minute To Win It, Color Games, International Days, and many other games and activities.
Besides the activities above, each day at camp will be packed with the number of other games, activities and events depending on the weather and other conditions. Also please note that depending on the nature of specific program there might be additional activities and events offered as part of that specific program.

Daily Schedule:
Each group’s schedule will vary depending on the nature of its program. A general schedule is available for you to see in our Parent Handbook. It will give you a general idea of how the schedule will look like and what your child can expect while at camp. The Parent Handbook will either be mailed to you upon acceptance of your registration form or it can be downloaded from our website.

SUMMER 2012 SCHEDULE:
ONE-WEEK and TWO-WEEK Sessions!
Session 1: Monday, July 9 – Friday, July 13
Session 2: Monday, July 16 – Friday, July 27
Session 3: Monday, July 30 – Friday, August 10
Session 4: Monday, August 13 – Friday, August 17

STAFF:
Our summer and year round staff is a group of dedicated and skilled individuals who aim to create a memorable experience for each of our campers this summer. Please visit our Summer Staff Page to find out more detailed information about our staff this summer.

TUITION & PAYMENT:
Please visit our Tuition & Payment Information page to find out the details about on the costs and payments for our overnight summer camp sessions. Also remember that Financial Aid is available for families who need it.

REGISTRATION:
To register for camp, please visit our Camp Registration Page. You will be able to either complete and submit your registration online or download a hard copy of it on your computer and print, complete and mail/fax/email it to us. Please read carefully through the instructions – only registration forms with all necessary paperwork and deposit in place will be eligible to be processed and accepted.