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Visit Our Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan Website
207-619-4772
camp[AT]bangory.org
101 Camp Jordan Way
Ellsworth, Maine 04605
WINTER (OFF-SEASON) OFFICE ADDRESS:
The Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan
Bangor YMCA
17 Second Street
Bangor, ME 04401
CAMPER AGES: 8-19
TYPE OF CAMP: Overnight/Sleepaway.
CAMPER GENDER(S): Coed Campers.
AFFILIATION(S): The Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan is owned and operated by the Bangor YMCA and adheres to all YMCA best practices. We are also accredit
SPECIAL NEEDS CAMPERS: The Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan runs a one-week program for families of children affected by cancer. This week provides a Sleep Away Camp experience for the whole family. For more information please call 07-619-4772 or email mrobshaw[AT]bangory.org.
CAMP INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES OFFERED:
Dance, Theater, Fine Arts/Crafts, Video/Filmmaking/Photography, Basketball, Football, Cheerleading, Soccer, Swimming, Tennis, Waterfront/Aquatics, Sailing, Team Sports, Adventure, Travel, Wilderness/Nature, and more.
CAMP LOCATION: Maine is synonymous with camping and wilderness, and our Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan is the perfect combination of both. The Wilderness Center sits in the heart of Eastern Maine’s pristine lake district, just 18 miles from Bangor with a world renowned medical facility and an airport with daily flights along the East Coast. Half way between Bangor and Bar Harbor, our Wilderness Center is within reach of five star restaurants, beautiful small town boutiques, Acadia National Park’s breathtaking ocean view hiking, countless rock climbing cliffs, and more.
CAMP FACILITIES: Our Wilderness Center provides a secluded nature retreat with all the amenities for a comfortable stay. Our 200 acre campus sits along a quarter mile of lakefront. We are the only summer camp on 2,700 acre Branch Lake. The 5,000 square foot King Dining Hall sits in the center of camp. This bright new facility is equipped with a full professional kitchen and can comfortably seat up to 230 people. The Dining Hall overlooks our lakefront grove area along with Triangle Lodge, our historic meeting hall. Our modern infirmary provides all needs for camp health care, as well as heated living quarters and an apartment for seasonal use.
Most guests and campers stay in our fifteen cabins, all of which have electricity and sleep up to sixteen people. Campers utilize our two bathhouses with six toilets and showers in each. With hiking trails, campsites, sports fields, an outdoor chapel, a state of the art ropes course, and over thirty boats, our facility is the perfect location for all groups.
CAMP PROGRAM INFO: The Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan offers three primary summer programs: Sleep Away Camp for boys and girls ages 8-15, Adventure Seekers Trips for boys and girls ages 8-18, and Leaders School for teens in Middle School and High School. All program details can be found in our downloadable program guide at Our Camp Website Link: www.campjordan.org.
SLEEP AWAY CAMP
Sleep Away Camp is the perfect introduction for children ages 8 to 15 into the Wilderness Center’s summer camp programming. Keenly aware of the different stages of youth development, our program provides age appropriate activities to foster self-exploration, challenge, and achievement. Our Sleep Away program serves a highly diverse camper population, giving campers an opportunity to live and connect with children from various countries and cultures. At Sleep Away Camp, children embark on a personal quest, enjoying activities of their choice from water sports, our adventure ropes course, crafts, performing arts, target shooting, field sports, and more.
ADVENTURE SEEKERS
The Adventure Seekers Program is a wilderness expedition program for campers looking for an exciting, elevated camp experience. Expeditions may include mountain biking, rock climbing, backpacking, spelunking, paddling, whitewater rafting, wilderness survival and more. Adventure Seekers will explore the best of the Maine and New Hampshire wildernesses on trips specially designed for different ages and abilities. All trips are led by Wilderness First Responders and Outdoor Specialists. The trips have been developed by Jeremy Robichaud, our Director of Adventure Recreation. He is a Registered Maine Guide, a Wilderness EMT, a Nationally Registered EMT, a Level II Project Adventure Instructor, and an instructor for SOLO Wilderness Medical School. Jeremy is a professional rock climbing guide and instructor, who is licensed by both the American Mountain Guide Association and the Professional Climbing Instructors Association.
LEADERS SCHOOL
Through group problem-solving competitions, intense physical challenges, unique traditions, and guided reflection, Leaders School helps shape teens into leaders. This is a pedal-to-the-metal week of excitement, formulated by experts in the field of experiential learning and group development. Leaders are pushed to their limits, encouraged to “slay their dragons”, and make connections from their Leaders School experience to their everyday lives. Graduates of this program become charged with a greater sense of self-worth, purpose, and obligation to improve the world around them.
Leaders School relies upon a perpetually-changing but time-tested model of outdoor adventure-education to push kids to explore their physical and mental limits, all the while maintaining a fun and supportive atmosphere that emphasizes “Challenge by Choice”. The two one-week programs are divided by age group between middle school and high school, and are primarily run at the Bangor Y’s Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan. At the core of the Leaders programming, however, are its “Challenge Days” expeditions that take campers all over the state. Young leaders can paddle canoes or kayaks along Moosehead Lake and the Penobscot or St. Croix rivers, sea kayak in Casco Bay, mountain bike through Acadia National Park, go rock climbing in Clifton, or hike Mt. Bigelow or Katahdin. Through introspection and experiential learning in a safe but challenging outdoor environment, leaders learn about themselves while gaining an appreciation for Maine’s natural treasures.
While at Leaders School, teens are challenged by Low and High Ropes Course elements to strengthen self image and build team skills. In addition to more standard classes such as archery, riflery and orienteering, leaders can also participate in Traveling Minstrels (music), Teen Talk (discussions about issues that affect youth), and Energy Infusion Theatre (performing arts). Campers build communication skills, develop teamwork, learn the dynamics of a group, discover themselves and shape goals for the future. The Bangor YMCA Leaders School program has graduated more than 4,200 young leaders in its 41 year history. The relationships and skills they build at Leaders School remain a part of their lives forever.
THE BANGOR YMCA WILDERNESS CENTER AT CAMP JORDAN offers so many choices all summer long, and the common thread is that every program will bring incredible growth, skills, friendship, and fun. Set on a 200 acre campus along the shores of Branch Lake in the beautiful Maine wilderness, our Sleep Away Camp, Adventure Seekers, and Leaders School give boys, girls, and teens of all ages and interests a sense of adventure, belonging, and purpose. These programs allow a child to progress and grow each year in our specially designed age appropriate adventures. Our goal is to partner with parents throughout their child’s life.
The Bangor YMCA’s Wilderness Center provides an idyllic group of resources in which to explore opportunities for personal growth and the enhancement of outdoor skills. The bedrock of our philosophy focuses on the value of experiential learning and encourages self-discovery through the wonders of the Maine environment.
The Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan has been fostering friendships, changing lives, and creating leaders for 106 years. We have established traditions and purposeful programming that encourages character building and leadership skills through the core values of honesty, caring, respect, and responsibility. Everyone is encouraged to take these life lessons home and contribute to their own families and communities.
Our programs are formulated to reflect the appropriate challenges of each stage of child development. As youth grow and gain a sense of comfort within our programs, they are encouraged to try new activities and new programs to gain a sense of challenge and mastery. Often children who begin with our Sleep Away Camp rise through the ranks, challenging themselves physically on Adventure Seekers expeditions as they grow older, moving on to our LIT and CIT programs, and capping each summer as a teenager with the Leaders School experience. Our programs for older teens bridge the gap between finding one’s personal strength and being a responsible member of a home community. Our Wilderness Center’s camper diversity brings this conversation globally and fosters discussions among tomorrow’s leaders from around the world.
The cabin group is the heart of our program, and we have recently made our cabin groups smaller to foster a closer bond between counselors and cabin-mates. Cabins eat together during each meal, participate in cabin challenges together, and spend “embers”, a time of reflection, sharing their day around a candle every night before bed. Veteran campers think of camp as their second home, a place where they feel appreciated, accepted for who they are, and at peace with themselves. It is our goal that every child develops this sense of connection with our community and our program.
ACCREDITATION: We are accredited by the American Camp Association, ensuring that we hold ourselves to the highest industry standards. The camp complies with all regulations of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
At the Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan, we pride ourselves on providing a staff that live out the YMCA core values of honesty, caring, respect, and responsibility. Every staff person receives extensive training, preparing them to provide the best possible physical and emotional environment for your child. All counselors are First Aid and CPR certified, and we employ two live-in health professionals and have an MD on call for reference to ensure that every camper’s medical needs are met at all times. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker visits us regularly to communicate with staff about their campers’ experiences and challenges.
CAMP LEADERSHIP CIT/LIT PROGRAMS: LEADERS SCHOOL
The Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan's Leaders School is one of the most profound leadership development programs in the Northeast.
Through group problem-solving competitions, intense physical challenges, unique traditions, and guided reflection, Leaders School helps shape teens into leaders. This is a pedal-to-the-metal week of excitement, formulated by experts in the field of experiential learning and group development. Leaders are pushed to their limits, encouraged to “slay their dragons”, and make connections from their Leaders School experience to their everyday lives. Graduates of this program become charged with a greater sense of self-worth, purpose, and obligation to improve the world around them.
Leaders School relies upon a perpetually-changing but time-tested model of outdoor adventure-education to push kids to explore their physical and mental limits, all the while maintaining a fun and supportive atmosphere that emphasizes “Challenge by Choice”. The two one-week programs are divided by age group between middle school and high school, and are primarily run at the Bangor Y’s Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan. At the core of the Leaders programming, however, are its “Challenge Days” expeditions that take campers all over the state. Young leaders can paddle canoes or kayaks along Moosehead Lake and the Penobscot or St. Croix rivers, sea kayak in Casco Bay, mountain bike through Acadia National Park, go rock climbing in Clifton, or hike Mt. Bigelow or Katahdin. Through introspection and experiential learning in a safe but challenging outdoor environment, leaders learn about themselves while gaining an appreciation for Maine’s natural treasures.
While at Leaders School, teens are challenged by Low and High Ropes Course elements to strengthen self image and build team skills. In addition to more standard classes such as archery, riflery and orienteering, leaders can also participate in Traveling Minstrels (music), Teen Talk (discussions about issues that affect youth), and Energy Infusion Theatre (performing arts). Campers build communication skills, develop teamwork, learn the dynamics of a group, discover themselves and shape goals for the future. The Bangor YMCA Leaders School program has graduated more than 4,200 young leaders in its 41 year history. The relationships and skills they build at Leaders School remain a part of their lives forever.
LIT/CIT
The Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan's LIT and CIT programs culminate the Sleep Away Camp experience. They provide teens with a strong set of skills they can use as future camp counselors and leaders in their communities. Our teen leadership development programs are some of the most comprehensive of their kind. Sixteen year olds begin with a two-week LIT program, which focuses on skill acquisition, team-building, personal development, goal setting, and community service. The CIT program is geared toward 17 year olds who aspire to work in childcare and continue as a leader at camp. During this three week program, participants learn the skills needed to care for children in a camp setting, develop interpersonal relationships, and work alongside members of the camp staff. Additionally, CITs will earn certifications in CPR and First Aid.
Many LIT and CIT participants were former campers who return to become volunteers and staff members, thus providing the legacy of energy and talent that has preserved more than 106 years of Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan tradition.
CAMP SCHOLARSHIPS OR FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE: Scholarships are available to Maine families. All families must apply by May 1, 2014.
YEAR-ROUND PROGRAMS: The Bangor YMCA Wilderness Center at Camp Jordan facilitates corporate retreats, offers corporate, private, and wedding facility rentals, and guides a plethora of outdoor adventure programs for adults and youth through the year. More information can be found at Our Camp Website Link: www.bangory.org.
CAMP SESSION DATES & FEES:
Dates & Fees are most easily viewed at the following web adress: Our Camp Website Link: www.bangory.org.
SUMMER CAMP JOBS:
We are currently seeking Adventure Seekers Trip Leaders (must be 21+ to apply), a Waterfront Director (must be 21+ to apply), Sous Chefs & Prep Cooks (must be 18+ to apply), and a Health Officer (RN, LNP, PA, DO, MD, EMT 2+).
All inquiries can be sent to mrobshaw[AT]bangory.org.
Be sure to check each camp listing under INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES OFFERED for the range of Special Interest Activities and Programs provided by each Maine Special Needs Summer Camp or Summer Special Needs Recreation Program.
Many Maine Day and Sleepaway Special Needs Camps offer professional level instruction in a wide-range of Special Needs Activities.
For a complete List of Maine Special Interest Special Needs Summer Camps & Summer Special Needs Recreation Programs scroll down to the big black bar at the very bottom of this page.
You can go directly to any of our other 2024 Special Interest Camp Directories from the list in the black bar at the bottom of this page.
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