Camp City Year 2011

By Lianne Shields, corps member on The Comcast Team serving at Browne Education Campus

Reflecting on my time at City Year, I came to a stunning conclusion. My presence here at City Year can be traced back to a camp I attended in fifth grade. Going to a performing arts camp was fun, and even though I didn’t continue with the program after summer ended, I still met a lot of people. Those people showed up in my life again in high school as classmates and friends. It was one friend in particular who pushed me to rejoin the theater group and to sign up for student council. She became a very important influence to me. It was through her older sister, a member of the founding City Year Los Angeles corps, that I found out about City Year.

This ripple is part of the reason I applied to be a camp director. Camp City Year is a great opportunity for students and corps members alike. Corps members can take on a variety of leadership roles as they plan the entire week –long camp.

In addition, camp is an outlet for our students to have fun and act like kids. As part of the leadership team for Camp City Year, I aim to recruit volunteers and campers to fill our sites, we plan lessons and activities to fill the days, and serve a team leader throughout the week to insure a fun, safe, and enriching way for students to spend their week off of school.

Camp City Year 2011 is already in the works! The camp runs from Monday, April 18th – Friday, April 22nd. With three locations total - in both southeast and northeast DC, the camps will open at 8am and run until 4pm. The theme this year is "Around The World in 5 Days" and will have a variety of activities purposefully created to engage the mind and body. Campers will also be provided with breakfast and lunch in addition to the events of the day. The cost of camp is $20 per first child registered and $5 for each additional child. Applying early is always best and scholarships are available.


Camp City Year is a way for parents to affordably send their children to camp and a way for students across Washington, D.C. to create a bond with one another in a safe environment. If you would like more information about Camp City Year, please feel free to contact the Camp City Year Recruitment Department at CampCityYearDC@cityyear.org or 202 – 742 – 5266. You never know the people you will meet at camp that can send your life in the right direction.