2021: A Summer to Remember!

We looked forward to this summer with more hope, anticipation, and excitement than any summer we can remember!

It took a lot of consideration, loads of trust, and the support of the entire Camp Onas community to successfully run the 2021 summer. Thank you to everyone who was a part of making it happen!

While many other camps and schools were closing their doors mid-summer due to the myriad challenges Camps faced this year, Camp Onas successfully welcomed campers and staff back to our Home Without Walls, and delivered a fun, memorable, and very-much-needed summer camp experience.

And while this summer was different in many marked ways, we did what we set out to do:

Have a wonderful summer that, while altered, was still patently, unmistakably Camp Onas. It was filled with song-singing from morning to night, lots of time in the pool, sleeping outdoors, exploring our creativity and independence, making friendship bracelets, putting on Theme Weekends and Theme Days (Tangled, Ratatouille, and Muppets vs. Pirates of the Caribbean weekends; Rock Day and The Battle of Hogwarts Theme Day), star-gazing, letters home, and late nights talking with old and new friends.

There was a lot about this summer, however, that stood out:

• We have never seen Camp fill so quickly. All sessions were nearly full by mid-March and we were fully staffed with counselors by early April.

• The length and format of our sessions was different. Instead of four 2-week sessions, we are running three 13-day sessions and one 7-day Older Camper Session for 2019 and 2020 graduates.

• Our COVID-19 Reduction and Mitigation Plan was implemented successfully, with high compliance among campers and staff, and zero positive tests for COVID-19 in our surveillance or other testing.

• We spent more time with our bunks cohorts, especially for the first five days of the session. There were more bunk activities, and we ate meals with our bunks until surveillance testing results came back negative. (Except the 1-week Older Camper Session, for which the majority of campers arrived COVID-19 immunized).

• There were fewer people here at Onas. We ran at 75-80% of our usual capacity (number of people) and did not hire Camp Aides.

• This summer’s Older Camper Session for 2019 and 2020 graduates was incredibly fun. Our older campers came back to Onas for an experience that struck a balance between normal Camp and exciting new activities for them to participate in, such as clubs dedicated to specific interests and multiple Evening Activities each day.

• We changed the names of the bunks, we worked with the staff throughout the summer on this project, and campers who attended the Older Camper Session helped finish the work. The bunks now carry the names of constellations, stars, and local flora. Read more about the process we used, and see the new names here.

All-in-all, this summer went down in Onas history as one of our most memorable summers ever.

As we count down the days to the 2022 summer, we are tremendously thankful to everyone who helped make this past summer possible, and we look forward to the 2022 summer more and more each day!

Onas Forever!