Here are a few helpful resources and responses to frequently asked questions to help you and your child familiarize yourselves with the Canoe Island experience for Eugene 5th grade French Immersion students.
To learn more about the camp, visit the Canoe Island French Camp website.
To see what’s in store for your child if he/she/they attend this year, check out this video from the 2019 Canoe Island trip that was taken by parents who were chaperoning the trip.
What does a typical week look like?
Check out this Sample Camp Schedule.
When do I have to have my child at the school on Monday morning? When do I pick my child up on Friday?
While we are still working out the exact details, please use this Sample Travel Schedule as a guide.
What should my child bring with them?
Please use this Packing List to help guide you.
What is the ratio of staff to campers?
Our supervision ratio of chaperones to students is 1:4 or 1:5. There is one chaperone assigned to each tent of four or five students.
What medical staff are available while my child is there?
Medical staff is available while our kids are on Canoe Island. Ben Straub, the executive director, and Margaret Schafer, the camp director, are both trained in Wilderness First Response and address all minor injuries or medical needs. Having been with CIFC (Canoe Island French Camp) for so long, they are well versed in the injuries kids sustain (sprains, abrasions, fractures, etc) and, most importantly, they know when to take kids to the hospital, which is just a 15 minute boat ride away.
Who will administer medications at Canoe Island?
Ben, the executive director, and Margaret, the camp director, serve students with medical needs as they arise (e.g. dispensing OTC and sprains, scrapes).
Do parents need to put Tylenol and Benedryl in ziplocs or does Canoe Island carry those medicines and administer them?
Parents do not need to provide Tylenol or Benedryl in the ziploc bag. Canoe Island French Camp (CIFC) has those medications on hand.
What are the student sleeping arrangements?
Canoe Island has 12 canvas tents, on wooden platforms with beds, matresses, and a wooden storage box, each of which sleeps 7. Typically, Charlemagne has 4 or 5 students and one chaperone in each tent.
How are tent groups chosen?
Each student submits 3-4 names of other classmates they would like to be with. The class organizers make groups that have students with at least one person on their list. Tent groups sleep in the same tent and also participate in activities together generally paired with another tent group.
Do participants have to wear masks in the tent? At nighttime?
CIFC will not ask students to wear masks while inside tents. For the most up to date and thorough COVID-19 protocols, please go to the COVID-19 Guidelines page.
What accommodations are available for non-binary and trans students?
Because of how small CIFC and the facility is, they admit to some shortcomings in terms of providing for non-binary campers. Their long term goal is to construct a gender neutral bathroom between the two existing bathrooms, where the laundry room currently is, but they are short on funds and manpower to execute this big project.
For the time-being, the best solution for non-binary students is to have them use the private, one-stall bathroom that is located next to the infirmary. For showers, there is a private, one-stall bathroom in the staff offices. For trans students, they can use the bathroom they are comfortable with.
As far as sleeping arrangements for trans or nonbinary students, the method Canoe Island has used most recently for tent arrangements is to ask campers with whom they would prefer to share housing: with girls, boys, nonbinary, or no preference and we will do our best to accommodate.
Here is the link to some key information for chaperones. It contains key aspects that both the chaperones and teachers help with.
Can my child bring their iPad or cell phone?
NO. Students are not allowed to bring any electronics with them to Canoe Island.
Is there cell service on the island?
While electronics are not allowed for students, chaperones are allowed to use their cell phones during down times chaperones will keep cell phones or other electronic equipment use to a minimum during student supervision.
There is cell phone service on the island. While reliable, it is slower than what a person living in a city would be used to. T-Mobile is far and away the carrier with the strongest signal. Other carriers have issues sometimes, but there's coverage all over the island with T-Mobile. "Main camp," where the buildings are, typically has reliable coverage for all carriers. There's also wi-fi in the buildings at camp. The issue chaperones experienced is that at least one parent, if not multiple, try to upload lots of photos to share with parents back home in Eugene, which can make the wi-fi slow for everyone. CIFC wi-fi is pretty weak, simply due to the service provided to the island.