A Brief History Of Camp
The Muslim Youth Camp has been around since 1977 when the first camp was held in Pleasant Valley Camp just northwest of Chicago. Four years later in 1981 the camp was held at Camp Waupaca near Waupaca, Wisconsin (about 200 miles north of Chicago). This camp (designed for teenage youth) featured an education program of lectures as well as swimming in a lake, water skiing, tubing, archery, tennis, hikes and games. At one time there were 225 boys and girls attending the camp. Initially, the camp was organized, conducted, and planned by a group of adults at Muslim Community Center. Slowly the organization and program planning was taken over by the youth. After about ten years at Camp Waupaca, the youth were tired of the activities at this camp and the camp was also becoming quite rundown. Therefore, a new camp was sought.
For a few years the camp was held at ISNA Headquarters in Plainfield, Indiana. This setting was not conducive to the kind of camp that was wanted. There was very little for the youth to do except play games. After poring over a list of camps in Illinois and surrounding states, it was decided to visit a camp near Rockford (about 100 miles from Chicago). Everyone liked the camp and after talking to the owner to see if there was room for us for a one week camp, the decision to try this camp was made. By this time the youth were doing all of the planning and work required for the camp under the advice of some adults. In 1993 the camp chosen to try was Camp White Eagle in Leaf River, Illinois. The change of camps was very beneficial to the camp program. The staff at Camp White Eagle worked with us to teach how to shoot an arrow and rifle, to swim (in a pool), arts and crafts, and best of all, Team Building. Team building is a process that a team goes through to build the self esteem of all individuals and teach people to work together to solve a challenge. The Camp staff lead the teams of team building.
From the beginning of the camps in 1977 through 1994 the camps were co-ed: both boys and girls attended at the same time. This caused a lot of rumors to be spread about what was going on at camp. In 1995 the decision was made to separate the boys and girls, with the boys going the first week of August and the girls the second week.
This is the way the camp is conducted today. The youth decide the theme for the camp, what the program will be, and they conduct the activities at the camp. A group of primarily college students are the counselors and they lead most of the workshops and discussions. It is great experience for them and they can relate better to the campers than older adults.
A counselor training program was initiated several years ago to give the counselors some training about what to expect at the camp and how to handle the campers. It has been beneficial to both campers and counselors.
In 2005 there were 70 boys attending the camp and 98 girls. The fee for the camp includes transportation from MCC to the camp and back, food, shelter (cabins with beds), and all camp activities. All meat is purchased from a Zabiha meat store in Chicago.