Celebrating 75 Years of Camp Carter

Summer camp is the quintessential American experience for kids and teens.

It’s the setting of countless cinematic masterpieces and the origin of the best style of cooking on earth: campfire cuisine. Whether you were shipped off to camp against your wishes or counting down the days until you were reunited with your friends outside of school hours, camp is likely the foundation of many of your core memories. But when it comes to traditional summer camp, nobody does it like the YMCA. This year, the Y is celebrating its 75^th anniversary of its legendary Camp Carter, which has options for all ages and incomes so that the camper in your life will be a happy one.

When I think of summer camp, I think of s’mores, lake activities, ghost stories, and sloppy Joe’s. Is that right, or have I watched too many movies?

You have watched some great movies! YMCA Camp Carter is all these things and more. With the growing needs of campers and staff, we try to meet the needs of both without removing the spirit of camp. We are constantly identifying ways of keeping engaged through changes in technology, social needs, and the demands on the time of our youth.

Describe the typical camper experience.

At YMCA Camp Carter, we offer three unique camp experiences – day camps, overnight camps, and even fully immersive camps. Each offers a unique experience in terms of activities, engagement, games, and how the staff engage with the campers. Still, across all our camps there are core activities that support the experiences that are the heart of camp. Those activities are high ropes, canoeing, archery, swimming, nature hiking, cabin time, skits, whacky campfires, crafts, and caring for the animals in our nature center. These are all organized to introduce campers to new experiences and teach them life-skills, like how to work in a group, how to make choices independently, [while providing] a safe opportunity for them to see the outcomes of their choices.

Photo courtesy of Camp Carter

Beyond that, we give them the opportunity to be independent in all facets of their life – what they want to eat and wear. Camp is a place where campers can be themselves. They “lose the cool” and simply show up as their most authentic self, and that is a freeing experience for kids who have to be “on” all the time. For many overnight campers, this is often their first time being away from home for an extended period. And one thing we are intentional about at YMCA Camp Carter is our international counseling staff. We recruit counselors from across the globe, introducing our campers to new people and helping them learn about different cultures.

What are the campgrounds like?

YMCA Camp Carter is 360 acres of indoor and outdoor fun. Our property features:

• Waterfront with a lake in the heart of our camp
• Range activities
• 2 archery ranges
• Riflery & BB range
•  Slingshot range
• Axe throwing range
• Stick & rock throwing range
• A full-service equestrian center
• Open areas for tag, meet-ups, games, and cabin time (providing the cabins to be creative and invent their own adventures)
• Air-conditioned cabins – we have 12 total
• Great location just outside downtown Fort Worth, so it is close to many families
• Access to a river that allows campers to canoe upriver and fish – which can also be done in our lake but adds a layer of adventure when on the river

Photo courtesy of Camp Carter

This sounds like quite the operation. How much staff and support does it take to run Camp Carter?

• Each summer our staff grows from a base, year-round team of seven to more than 45 full-summer staff.
• We operate a direct staffing delivery of a ratio of 1:5.
• A team of year-round directors ensures we have rich offerings for school groups with our outdoor education programs, corporate meetings and retreats, and team building.
• We are fortunate that Camp Carter is part of a larger association that provides a lot of support from finance and payroll to marketing.
• Partner with a variety of other groups throughout the year offering specialty camps or hosting their special events at camp.
• Plus, we could not do most of this work without a strong core of volunteers who help us with our Halloween, Christmas, and family weekends as well as clean up days.

Photo courtesy of Camp Carter

Tell me about the different camp options.

Traditional Overnight Camp – traditional camps are the 11 weeks of Day Camp that we know and love! With each week having its own unique themes from art to archery, campers will enjoy the traditional camp activities.

Day Camp (including a one-night add-on option) – day camp offers a safe, exciting, and memorable experience where kids can build self-confidence, independence, and creativity.

Full immersive experience – special weeks that fully immerse your camper into that week’s theme (like jedi training week). They will still participate in camp activities, but each has its own twist to illuminate that week’s theme.

Specialty camps – specialty camps allow your camper to choose a specific skill area to focus on throughout the week. They will still participate in camp activities. However, they will get the opportunity to learn, grow and enjoy a specialty of their choosing.

Photo courtesy of Camp Carter

Equestrian Camp – equestrian camp is progressively structured, providing the perfect opportunity for developing equestrians to focus solely on their horsemanship skills. As they become more confident in their abilities and comfortable within a community of riders, they develop lasting friendships and lifelong leadership skills. Instructors are trained in horsemanship and carefully match the experience level of the child with an appropriate horse.

Mini Camps – mini overnight camp is designed to introduce first-time campers, ages 6-8, to the traditions and excitement of overnight camp. These campers attend camp for three days and two nights and will get an introduction to camp life, activities, and traditions.

What are the benefits to experiencing a true summer camp?

Photo courtesy of Camp Carter

Where do I start? Research from the American Camp Association, coupled with the real-life feedback we get from our campers and see with our own eyes, demonstrate that the benefits of a camp experience are endless. Especially in our post-covid environment, some skills that are gained at camp are even more critical, like social development, interpersonal relationship building, behavior management, and self-regulation skills. All of these are practiced and strengthened simply by being in the camp environment. Camp is also a place that introduces kids to new skills, stretches themselves and learns to set and achieve goals.

Camp Carter is 75 years old. How will the YMCA make this year extra special?

This is an exciting time in the history of YMCA Camp Carter. We are doing some really great things, and some things we are still building out with our alumni. Our anniversary officially kicks off in September, but we are expanding our camp experiences to include ways for our community to utilize our facility year-round, providing access to trails, frisbee golf, fishing, and introductory lessons to activities such as archery, canoeing, and water safety. Not to mention, we will have alumni Coffee and Camp mornings and, of course, special alumni weekends and events, including a Birthday Bash weekend in September. We are encouraging anyone who considers themselves a Camp Carter Alumni to email us at camper@ymcafw.org to get on our alumni list so we can keep them involved in all the fun this year!