Our Summers Save Lives

Our Summers Save Lives

by | Nov 8, 2020 | Camp Stories, Depression, Help For Parents, Staff Stories, Teen Camp Blog

Adam Simon, Director of OTC with campers.

20 years ago, when I started Odyssey Teen Camp, I could not have imagined the impact this camp would have on my life as well as thousands of other people’s lives.

A safe space

The concept was simple – create a summer camp for teenagers where they were safe from bullying and emotional abuse. A place where they were accepted, honored, and celebrated, just for being themselves.

Campers at OTC embrace.

I wanted it to be a camp where teens could relax, and instead of hiding or building up their defenses, they would feel safe and free to share their gifts, dreams, and passions as well as their insecurities and vulnerabilities.

A life-changing experience

Since its inception, thousands of teenagers have spent their summers at Odyssey Teen Camp, and many tell me that OTC changed their lives. On several occasions, someone has told me that camp literally saved their life.

Being a teenager is difficult at best. Because of the physical changes they are going through, pressures in their daily life and time spent on social media, it is very difficult for a teenager to feel good about themselves. They often get very shy, and will often hide different parts of themselves, (often the best parts).

The power of a loving community

Teenagers who come to OTC can get a break from all of that. I don’t think there is anything more healing for a teenager than to be with peers who see, accept, and love them just the way they are.

Sharing circle at camp.

The realization that we all have our insecurities and weaknesses and can be loved anyway can help teenagers give themselves a much-needed break. They can move beyond the worries about what they look like or what other people think of them, and find the courage and confidence to try new things and share their thoughts and feelings.

I think the type of loving community we create at OTC can be life-changing and for some even life-saving.

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Find out about Odyssey Teen Camp

A great place for teens to be exactly who they are in a community that celebrates diversity. 

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From a Feeling of Malice to Hope. One Camper’s Odyssey. A Personal Letter From Kendall.

From a Feeling of Malice to Hope. One Camper’s Odyssey. A Personal Letter From Kendall.

by | Nov 2, 2020 | Camp Stories, Camper Tesitimonials, LGBTQ+ Camp, Staff Stories, Teen Camp Blog

Kendall playing guitar

Odyssey Teen Camp means different things to different campers, but one thing they all can agree on is that OTC changed their life.

Kendall was a camper at OTC starting in 2014. His life was transformed as he built friendships, discovered a new sense of belonging, and regained his confidence. Here Kendall shares his story about his odyssey of self-discovery while spending summers at OTC.

Kendall with friends at camp.

A letter to potential donors:

A sanctuary. A respite. A city behind trees that teaches the most invaluable entity a young person could possess: self-love. This is Odyssey Teen Camp.

My adolescence was quite literally an odyssey. A hero’s journey out of an abyss with a transformation that could have only been possible because of camp. People who know me now as an adult would never know, but I was jaded. I was convinced that the world consisted mostly of bad people and malice because that was all I had known. And yet somehow, sitting by a bonfire, watching the flames dance and being bitten by mosquitoes, I learned there is so much more.

Camp is harm reduction.

If there is one reason to donate to Odyssey Teen Camp it is because of the way it unequivocally helps marginalized communities. There is no place I felt safer as an LGBTQ+ young person. Camp showed me that there is a place for me in this world and I deserve to exist authentically as I am. In every daily activity, interactions with counselors and peers, and nights spent dancing like no one is watching, you learn to love yourself. You learn that what makes you different is the thing that is the most beautiful and should be celebrated.

Kendall with friends at camp.

If Odyssey Teen Camp were not able to continue, it would be a cataclysmic loss to the young people that have no other community. The teenagers with parents that don’t accept them and the peers at school that are even worse, would not be able to have a break from social marginalization, even if only for a few weeks every summer.

So give.

Give because while you may not have much to lose from a meer summer camp struggling to continue, at-risk youth have much to lose. Give because I made it, and every other young person who feels alone deserves to make it too, and this can be achieved through learning to love yourself and learning that there is a place in this world for you at camp.

Thank you,

Kendall Kalustyan
He/Him/His
Member of the OTC community from 2014-2020

Give Now to Odyssey Teen Camp

GIVE NOW

Find out about Odyssey Teen Camp

A great place for teens to be exactly who they are in a community that celebrates diversity. 

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Finding New Hope in Virtual Camp

Finding New Hope in Virtual Camp

by | May 28, 2020 | Camp Activities, Help For Parents, Technology, Teen Camp Blog

OTC Summer camp Online

Call it whatever you want, our virtual camp is helping teens through these times.

Like a lot of other businesses, this pandemic has been tough on summer camp people. Most of us spent the first two months of the pandemic worrying whether we would be allowed to open, and this last month many of us realized that it does not make much sense to try and do so.

We were trying to create all sorts of ways to keep COVID 19 out of camp but also knew that our rational thinking can only take us so far when looking for answers to questions that no one currently has the answers to.

Camps that canceled have been angry at camps planning to open, and camps planning to open can find plenty of their own reasons to be angry. COVID 19 often has us feeling scared, helpless, and confused. I think many of us are more comfortable expressing those feelings as anger, than what they really are, fear of living in this world that we can no longer make sense of.

The highway signs near my house say “Stay New York Tough.” I get the idea, but I don’t feel all that tough lately. Confused, stuck, frustrated, scared, but “tough”? not so much…

A new program

Virtual camp activities.

Sample virtual camp schedule at Odyssey Teen Camp.

A few weeks ago we started an online camp program. I’ve heard some people put virtual camp down, saying “It’s not camp!” Well, you can call it what you want, what I’ve seen in the few weeks it’s been running is that it can be pretty great.

Teens are connecting, having fun, and feeling less isolated and alone. We are trying new things, making new friends, and sharing our gifts. We have over thirty-five teenagers registered and I hope we will get a lot more.

There are great people leading unique activities, and great teenagers showing up. Everyone is being included, respected, seen, and heard. We are having fun but also tackling some tough questions about the world we are living in. We are trying to help teens discover more wisdom, truth, and love for themselves and this new world we are all living in.

Different classes each week

This is no joke…

 

Creating this program is a lot of work but I think it’s worth it. I hope we will be able to use it to spend the next several months connecting, learning new skills and discovering more about each other, our world, and the ways we can make it better. OTC has always had some of the most unique summer programming and attracted teens outside the “norm.” Besides computers, our online program is no different.

Virtual camp is still pretty new to us and while it may not be camp the way we know it, I am really glad we are doing it. I recently ran an online sharing circle with my friend Francesca and I’ve been leading sharing circles with teens and adults for a long time and I think this circle felt as helpful and valuable as any other circle I’ve been a part of.

Our online camp is a safe, fun, and an interesting way to connect, support, encourage, and love one another. To me, that makes more sense than trying to hang “New York Tough”.

Summer Camp Online 2020 now in session!

Regretfully we had to cancel camp for 2020 but we now have an online program where teens can jump-in at any time. It may be the perfect way for teens to test the waters and meet the OTC community in a relaxed way. See the video below. Find out more.

How We Can Help Our Anxious Teens Live Heroic Lives

How We Can Help Our Anxious Teens Live Heroic Lives

by | Feb 17, 2020 | Anxiety & Shyness, Camp Stories, Camper Tesitimonials, Depression, Teen Camp Blog

Teen taking a risk amongst friends at Odyssey Teen Camp

There seem to be more teenagers than ever before living with a debilitating degree of anxiety. A study by the National Institute of Health recently showed that one in three teenagers will experience an anxiety disorder, and anxiety is now considered the number one mental health problem in the U.S.

I’m sure there’s a long list of things that contribute to teenagers feeling so anxious including not enough sleep, too much time staring at screens, not enough exercise, social media, high expectations to achieve, puberty, genetics, poor diets, and the fact that our world seems pretty scary, but I think the biggest cause of social anxiety is teenagers’ fears of being judged, embarrassed, and ridiculed.

The courage to live bigger

Most of the teenagers who come to camp with a diagnosis of social anxiety are some of my favorite people. They are sweet, sensitive, kind and introspective. Unfortunately, they are also way too concerned with what they imagine other people might think about them. These worries about social approval and all the self-consciousness that comes with it can make them stop doing all the things that they really want to do, including making friends, trying new things, relaxing and being themselves. Their lives become a lot smaller at a time when they should become bigger. How can we help them find the courage to take the kinds of calculated risks that will help them discover more about themselves? How can we help them connect more with others and begin creating the lives they want to create?

 

I know it can feel bleak when anxiety seems to be stopping our teens in their tracks, but I also know that social anxiety can be overcome, and I’ve been watching teenagers do it at camp for a long time. I’ve heard that anxiety is the gap between the present and the future, and at camp, we are able to create a space where teens can relax and live more in the present.

A safe container

When teenagers recognize they are not being judged and that it’s perfectly o.k. to sometimes feel confused, insecure, clueless, and make mistakes without being put down or humiliated, it frees them to show who they really are. When they get that others are there to support them with kindness, friendship, and love, they can let go of many of their defenses, share their gifts, choose freedom over safety, love over fear, and connection over isolation.

I’m sure that convincing socially anxious teens to come to camp for the first time can be quite a challenge. I’ll write my next blog with some ideas about that, but if you want to talk about it, you can join our Facebook Group to support parents of teens with anxiety, or reach out to me directly, maybe I can help.

Thanks,

Adam

How Housing Works at OTC for Transgender Campers

How Housing Works at OTC for Transgender Campers

by | Jan 30, 2020 | LGBTQ+ Camp, Teen Camp Blog

Transgender camper in front of cabin

Just as gender identity can feel complicated, housing at camp for transgender and gender diverse teens can feel that way as well. I remember ten years ago when the first openly transgender kids starting coming to camp everyone’s big question was, “where are we going to house them?”

Looking back, our concerns seem a little silly and maybe overblown, but for those trans and genderqueer teens (and their parents), coming to a camp for the first time, safe housing is definitely something on their minds.

As a camp with many trans and non binary teens, it’s crucial to create the safest space we can. Housing, bathrooms, programs and the culture we create all play a role in that. I may never understand everything about gender, but by hiring a staff that includes plenty of terrific gender diverse counselors, we can ensure that every camper is respected, included, and celebrated at camp.

Cabins that feel “gender-less”

Today many camps are offering some gender-neutral cabins. Although we have more teens who identify outside the gender binary than most camps, right now we do not offer gender-neutral cabins. If campers expressed a desire to have gender-neutral cabins we would try to accommodate them, but they have not. I can see the pluses in offering gender-neutral cabins, but I also think having cabins separate from our binary cabins (traditional boys and girls cabins), could create a sense of “othering,” and emphasize gender in a way that might make a bigger deal out of it than it has to be.

A trans male camper who has been coming to camp for many years, who stays in a “girls” cabin told me his reasons for this are because that’s where his friends are, but he also says that the counselors in the “girls” cabins have consistently done a great job creating cabins that feel “gender-less,” where there are no gendered activities that make him feel uncomfortable. He feels that our AFAB (assigned female at birth), cabins feel as if they are gender-neutral because of the lack of emphasis on gender, and also because of the number of other trans campers and counselors living there.

A new perspective

I used to tell parents of AFAB teens who were either transitioning or questioning their gender identity that they might feel more comfortable in a girls cabin. I said that because I saw some trans boys at camp wearing hoodies and binders on very hot days and I thought they might be more comfortable in a girls cabin. I don’t say that anymore because I have seen AFAB teens do just fine in an AMAB cabin. So much of this decision depends on the teenager themselves and where they are in their gender journey. It’s a process, it’s an experiment, it’s a dance and when camper needs to switch into a cabin they feel more comfortable in, it’s never a problem.

There is a gender revolution going on, and ideas around gender are changing quickly. I don’t think there are necessarily any experts on the subject, nor is there one right way to do things.

Today at Odyssey we have girls cabins and boys cabins and campers can choose whichever they most identify with. They can also move from one cabin to another if that’s what feels best, (and teens do it pretty often). Everything is changing and I would not be surprised if the way we do housing at camp changes as well, but for now I think the more we can create gender-less spaces where everyone feels respected, accepted and celebrated for exactly who they are the better. 

Find out about Odyssey Teen Camp

A great place for teens to be exactly who they are in a community that celebrates diversity. 

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