Las Vegas children's camp memories unforgettable

Camp fund

The Las Vegas Sun Summer Camp Fund estimates it will provide scholarships for more than 800 local children by the end of the summer. Through donations to the fund, children throughout the Las Vegas Valley have an opportunity to attend camp.

Outside the Lied Memorial Boys and Girls Club, buses pull away and friends say goodbye in a warm embrace.

In matching T-shirts and colorful bandanas they exchange phone numbers.

Cars pull up. Trunks open. Children drag their duffle bags and suitcases past piles of sleeping bags. Camp has ended. Memories are stored, sometimes for a lifetime.

"I have pictures to remind me if I forget," said 13-year-old Heather Dickerson, who recently returned from Pathfinder Ranch, a summer camp for children in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California.

Judging by her stories, it's likely she won't forget anytime soon. She's still singing camp songs and flips through her photographs every night before going to bed.

Despite the prevalence of video games, computers and other high-tech gadgets that keep children indoors, summer camp is still popular.

"Kids still love being with kids," Peg Smith, American Camping Association executive director, said.

Since 1992, camp enrollment for children across the country has been increasing 8 percent to 10 percent each year, she said. Nearly 9 million children nationwide attended summer camp in 1999.

In Las Vegas thousands of children leave parents and household responsibilities behind each summer and head to some outdoor retreat where the weather is usually cooler, and log cabins and tents become their temporary homes.

In 1861 the first residential summer camp for children, the Gunnery Camp in Connecticut, was organized. Today there are an estimated 8,500 summer youth camps.

Whether it's a specialty camp -- band, church, computer, horseback riding -- or general interest, children are looking to get away for a week and explore life outdoors, learn new skills and make friends.

According to an American Camping Association survey, parents say confidence-building and self-esteem are the most important reasons for sending children to camp. Building social skills and making friends are others.

Bethany Dolesh, camp director at Camp Foxtail, a Girl Scout camp in Lee Canyon, said the confidence gained from camp comes from the independence children experience while away.

"(Camp) is a time children have made on their own, away from home in a different environment," Dolesh said. "At camp they're encouraged to take responsibility for what they do. They're asked for ideas and opinions that are played out."

When campers first arrive they say they miss television, the Internet and the telephone, but toward the end they don't want to leave because they will miss the simplicity, Dolesh said.

Arnold Hennings, 12, said he had no problem leaving behind his Gameboy and 7 a.m. ritual of watching a "Pokeman" cartoon to go to camp at Pathfinder Ranch.

"Sometimes you have to get away from that stuff," Hennings said. "You can't get glued to it all the time."

Both Hennings and Dickerson attend the Lied Boys and Girls Club during the summer. Combined, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Las Vegas send about 600 kids to camp each year.

Specialty camps are appealing to many. The Clark County Parks and Recreation Department this summer has sent 180 children to art and to science camp. Deaf children attend a camp in Northern Nevada.

More than 500 campers will have attended Camp Foxtail by the end of the summer, it estimates.

Aside from activities provided by groups such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, Dickerson says there is little that children and teenagers can do in the summer that doesn't cost a lot of money.

It gets too hot to go to the park, she said, so she spends time at the mall with her friends.

"If you have a ride and money you can go to Adventuredome, Wet 'n Wild and New York-New York," she said.

For Hennings, who spends most of his time playing video games, camp is a refreshing change.

"If you hang around people you don't know, you can be all weird," Hennings said. "You forget about everything back here and just let loose.

"It's way easier to be yourself. No pressure."

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