There are myths about Overnight Summer Camp summer camp that may dissuade some parents from sending their child. They think that the typical camp is way too expensive, too exclusive, or too time consuming. Ask your self why you are not sending your child to camp?

However, these days there is no such thing as a typical camp. The more than 8,500 camps across the country offer something for every budget, interest, personal schedule, and ability.

Below are a few summer camp facts:

* A national survey of American Camping Association (ACA)-accredited camps reveals that camp enrollment has increased by approximately 8-10 percent each year since 1992.

* Last summer, 65 percent of camps surveyed gave out camperships. Total amounts given per camp ranged from small contributions to $1,000,000.*

* Approximately 500,000 jobs are filled each summer by college students, teachers, doctors, nurses, food service directors, and may others who wish to make a positive difference in the lives of almost nine million children and youth.

The above facts may dispel some camp myths , bit the biggest myth is that summer camp is all about fun. The benefits to young people of a summer at camp have long been discussed and more recently evaluated. What are they? Simply put, they are opportunities. Opportunities not exclusive to camps but rather concentrated at camp, where under the direction, supervision, and influence of caring counselors, young adults can learn to become more independent, more confident, more self-aware, and more giving toward others. These are just some of the life lessons learned at camp says Stephen Wallace, M.S. Ed.

To learn more about Kids Summer Campsvisit the ACA website

Learn more about Minnesota Summer Camps. Swift Camp is for boys and girls 6-15. We blend traditional summer camp activities with a nature and Science Summer Camps.

This year over 250,000 folks will travel to the Northwoods of Minnesota commune with nature and the outdoors. For the young adults and teens this oppertunity comes in the form of an Minnesota Adventure Camp.

When one thinks of the BWCA, they are reminded of a picturesque area in the northern third of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota. between The International Boundary between Canada and the United States and extends nearly 150 miles while consuming nearly 1.3 million acres. The Canadians protected areas are Canada’s Quetico Provincial Park and Voyageurs National Park. The main means of transport in the BWCA is mainly canoing with over 1200 miles of canoe routes, 11 hiking trails and approximately 2000 designated campsites plus loads of Portages.

Something special happens, in this Minnesota natural area. Its the challenge and personal integration with nature that seems to offer freedom to those who wish to pursue an experience of expansive solitude. This Natural Wildlife area in Minnesota is a treasure. One realizes they are alone. Thsi is what it must have been like hundreds of years before the first strip shopping center. Trips to this area require all participants to be independent and self-sufficient. As you paddle days pass before you see any signs of civilization.

This joint sanctuary is the largest international area set aside for wilderness recreational purposes in the world. This area has served as a travel corridor for native peoples and, more recently, as one of the main routes to the west for European explorers and fur traders. The Voyageurs’ Highway rwas a heavily traveled route between an Canada and Minnesota. Modern-day living is nothing but a far off memory when one paddles along the magestic lakes.

So how did this come to be? Here is the short form.

July 10, 1930, the Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act, the first statute in which Congress expressly orders land be protected as “wilderness,” is signed into law by President Herbert Hoover

September 3 1964, the Wilderness Act, U.S. is signed by President Lyndon Baines Johnson, establishing the U.S. wilderness preservation system and prohibiting the use of motorboats and snowmobiles within wilderness areas except for areas where use is well established within the Boundary Waters, defining wilderness as an area “where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man . . . an area of undeveloped . . . land retaining its primeval character and influence without permanent improvements.” This date is considered by many to be the birth of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

Find the Bestt Summer Camps in Minnesota.

Swift Nature Camp is a Minnesota Summer Camp for boys and girls ages 6-15. Our focus is to blend traditional summer camp with a Animal Summer Camp increasing a child’s appreciation for nature, science and the environment.