My wonderful niece was rejected from camp

amother

Garnet

Mon, Dec 02 2024, 7:45 am

For all those wondering how it is possible that if she went to this camp for years then where did her bed go- here's what happened when I went to camp.
One year, a special needs program decided that they want to rent space on the grounds of the camp that I went to, and they took over one bunkhouse. Seems like it was more worth it for the camp to rent the space to them instead of taking tuition from the 60-70 campers that would have slept in that bunkhouse, I imagine that they paid a lot better due to govt funding etc. I'm not blaming the camp for agreeing, I would have done the same thing. Tachlis was that one age group was suddenly reduced by 70 campers because there was simply no space for them. Many many campers got rejected first half, but second half there is always more room so it didnt affect as much.

↑ Raisin

Mon, Dec 02 2024, 8:24 am

amother Anemone wrote:

I dont care where she lives her post is implying the girl does not have good middos. And its a snide comment on the op saying her niece has good middos. Its a nasty thing to say when a girl is disappointed for whatever reason you may not understand.

Life is full of disappointment. Sad

Its helpful to learn resilience early in life, although its a tough lesson and it often seems unfair.

I am also wondering, on a practical level, if camps are so overfull, why don't they make 3x 3 weeks sessions so all kids get a chance? (and I bet parents would be happy with paying less money).

amother

↑ IndianRed

Mon, Dec 02 2024, 8:30 am

amother Moccasin wrote:

I hear that, though I don't think it's quite the same as not being allowed back for another year of school.

At the same time, I can't help but think of the girl who didn't get in the 1st 3 years, and this is her 1st, if not only, opportunity to experience overnight camp. In the bigger scheme if things, why us she less important than someone who had a turn 3 times over? Maybe she applied ealier this year and it was a 1st-come, 1st-serve basis?
In any case, I'm not from a community that usually sends highschool girls to overnight camp as campers, so maybe that's why I see it as "she had her turn, now someone else is getting a chance."
But yes, being left out of the group is really tough.

But such a girl can go anywhere, she hasn't established her camp friends yet and become integrated into this camp environment yet. There are multiple new camps opening this year, why shouldn't someone who hasn't gone to camp yet apply to the new camps instead of taking a returning campers spot.

amother

↑ Anemone

Mon, Dec 02 2024, 8:41 am

Raisin wrote:

Life is full of disappointment. Sad

This is all true doesnt negate your earlier nasty comment

Elfrida

Mon, Dec 02 2024, 9:03 am

The only reason it makes sense for returning campers to get priority, is because camps want to retain their brand. If they know a certain girl fits their image, they want her back in order to retain that image.

Otherwise it really would be fairer for girls who haven't been to camp to get the first chance.

amother

↑ Bellflower ↓

Mon, Dec 02 2024, 9:17 am

amother Moccasin wrote:

Why does she need to go to this specific camp? There are newer camps that have more room. This returning camper has her 4 camp friends she's been going to camp with for years. They speak on the phone all year and catch up in person whenever they're in the same city. And now suddenly 4 of them are going back to camp together again and one girl was told no for no valid reason.

amother

↑ Bellflower ↓

Mon, Dec 02 2024, 9:21 am

Elfrida wrote:

To maintain friendships. To me, as a mother, the biggest gain of sleepaway camp is my daughters branching out and making real friends with girls they don't see all the time. It adds such a beautiful dynamic to their lives. I love hearing them talk throughout the winter, discussing what's going on in their cities! These friendships are also a big part of what makes up the camp ruach. This would be practically impossible if camp friends were for 4 weeks only and then the following year it would be a totally new crowd.

amother

↑ Bellflower ↓

Mon, Dec 02 2024, 9:24 am

The girls that I know that weren't accepted this year were not in chayil (they're coming out of 6th and 8th). They had all gone first half before. Some of them were accepted for 2nd half, 2 of them were not accepted at all.

amother

↑ Ruby

Mon, Dec 02 2024, 9:29 am

Besides for friendships there is a certain stability of returning to the same camp. Knowing the staff. the grounds. the schedule. The songs.
That is very important to many girls.

New campers can get that in a new camp.
To shuffle girls from camp to camp takes away the stability, familiarity, and friendships otherwise made. It is missing the point of camp for many girls and taking away from the experience.

Many times the best staff in a camp are former campers that returned year after year and love the camp.
If you mess with that you lose the base you choose your staff from.

amother

↑ OP ↓

Yesterday at 9:40 am

amother Scarlet wrote:

OP are we talking about chayil?

Has she always gone 2nd and now wants to go first 1/2?

Not chayil. Regular bnos . She's been going first half all these years .

amother

↑ OP ↓

Yesterday at 9:43 am

amother Bellflower wrote:

Exactly what's going on here. She has been going to this camp with her camp friends for years . They speak on the phone during the year and they look forward to their one month together in camp . Three of them were accepted . One was not , for no reason at all .

amother

↑ OP ↓

Yesterday at 9:49 am

amother Slateblue wrote:

Think of it like school. Imagine a school not accepting your child back after being there for 4 years. For me camp was more important than school. I literally lived for the summer. Some of my closest friends were my camp friends. I kept up with them all year. I think this may help you understand why not getting accepted back to camp can be devastating.

This is exactly the situation with my niece. She lives for camp . She's not very popular in school , doesn't have close friends in school and basically doesn't excel. (Except for her middos ) going to camp with her few friends is the highlight of her year . She shines in camp with her friends. This isn't a kid that can just go to any random camp alone without a friend. Telling a returning camper like her that we don't have room for no reason isn't acceptable. It's also not acceptable for them to send a rejection letter now when it's already to late to apply to another camp . Is a kid that's not so social meant to jump around from camp to camp every summer ?

amother

↑ Mimosa

Yesterday at 9:57 am

amother OP wrote:

Anyone who sent the application back on time got the rejection letter 3 weeks ago which was before most other camps even opened their applications. Did they not send it in by the deadline?

amother

↑ OP ↓

Yesterday at 10:09 am

amother Mimosa wrote:

Anyone who sent the application back on time got the rejection letter 3 weeks ago which was before most other camps even opened their applications. Did they not send it in by the deadline?

Application was sent during priority registration . By the way , camp applications for other camps were due the same time as bnos . Boys camps are due later but most girls camps are due the same time .

amother

↑ Nutmeg

Yesterday at 10:35 am

I Posted earlier asking this, trying again...
Her friends that got re accepted go to the same school as her? Her school might be the issue. I know of a different camp that is trying to filter out their clientele by not reaccepting girls from a certain school.

amother

↑ Bellflower ↓

Yesterday at 10:41 am

amother Nutmeg wrote:

The girls I know who weren’t accepted this year have classmates who were accepted. I live in a small OOT community, there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason who was and who wasn’t accepted. People are trying to find an answer to understand, I don’t there there is an explanation.

Chayalle

Yesterday at 10:43 am

I agree with OP - Camp has no right to reject a girl that went to camp for a few summers in a row, followed the rules/behaved while there, and applied during the priority registration period as a returning camper for the same season/half she attended in the previous years.

If the camp anticipated that for some reason this year they won't have room for last year's returning crop, they have planned very poorly and are at fault. They should have: built additional bunkhouses, hired additional staff, etc....

Imagine if a school decided to downscale their class of 30 students to 25. They inform 5 girls that they need to find themselves a new school as there's no space for them.

Something went wrong here, and worst of all, as OP posts, it's probably too late for her to get in elsewhere even if she wanted to.