Teens at Camp!
Camp Tuku’s varsity program is one of the many highlights we have here at camp. We offer a cool opportunity to campers of high school age to come to camp and experience learning activities and personal self growth. Aimed at our campers of high school age, we provide a sense of leadership in our camp , growing their confidence and abilities, while teaching them to apply them to any situation. Our Varsity campers participate in volunteer opportunities throughout their time at camp, allowing them to work together as a team as well as help with a peek behind the scenes.
With an advanced mindfulness curriculum, our Varsity campers are given the chance to help participate in the teaching of mindfulness, and find a deeper way of applying it to their everyday lives. During morning mindfulness, they are chosen to help guide meditations as well as demonstrations to help show the younger campers in a more visual way what mindfulness is all about. This helps build confidence when we lead in afternoon mindfulness and they have the confidence to help the counselors with the younger campers, having built that foundation in the mornings.
Our varsity campers also get to attend our camping adventure designed for our varsity campers, where they can camp overnight with their lead counselors/directors and other varsity campers on camp grounds. They are taught hands-on wilderness skills, and are shown beautiful hiking trails. With a deeper connection to the world around them, they form new friendships and bonds with their varsity campers during these trips.
These campers also have lots of hands-on engagement with the community, where they can do unique service projects. In the past, they have taken time to help build parts of the gardens on camp grounds, and later nurture the plants that grow there. This allowed for the campers to have something shown for their effort, where they can grow something themselves. With a handful of ideas for the service projects, they are able to expand their skills in a way only camp can give. 
“It’s a great opportunity for high schoolers to have a break from technology and truly connect with their peers,” shared Arie, a varsity counselor who has helped nourish the program with her co counselors for the past three years. Our camp is the best place for older kids to unplug from technology, and reconnect with everything around them, including nature, their friends, and especially themselves. We all know how hard it can be to put down the phone from doomscrolling, but here at camp, we get the experience to see what else we can do with our time other than stare at a screen. With our main focus being compassion, they are able to shed the teen social expectations and high school pressure while at Camp Tuku.
We also have an opportunity for older campers to, after a year or two, have an even cooler camp experience as a CIT, where they can have even more hands-on experience helping at camp, and learn even more about the responsibility and leadership that comes with it. They deserve the opportunity to slowly lead in a safe environment, and to be taught transferable life skills. If your camper feels they are ready for a more active role within the leadership of Camp Tuku, then becoming a CIT is a wonderful way to go, and can lead to becoming a part of the counselor team in the future.
Keep a lookout for our outdoor adventure week, geared towards teens who want to explore nature and see more of a rugged camping environment in their summer.
This is what a session at Camp Tuku would look like for your teen camper. And there is plenty of time to enroll your camper today, at our new location! Rimrock is Camp Tuku’s new home, and it truly is the most beautiful place for a summer full of fun. Don’t miss out on the chance to enroll your camper early and get the early bird special! If you enroll your camper for another summer with us by August 1st, you’ll get $150 off! So don’t wait! Lock in your spot with Camp Tuku for the summer of 2027, where your camper will have the best experience possible.