I was recently in a meeting of summer camp educators from across the Audubon network. We were debriefing from camp 2024 and I came across this saying from the National Summer Learning Association: “Summer starts in September.” I think I laughed out loud because it is true! Here we are in November and I am still thinking about and wrapping up camp 2024, while at the same time reviewing an agenda for a camp 2025 meeting tomorrow. We spend a significant amount of time planning our programs and we hope it comes through in your engagement with us. Tell us if that is true by completing our summer camp survey by Jan 1st, providing important feedback about your camp experience with us. We randomly draw a name from completed surveys to win a $75 gift certificate towards education programing with us in the future.

Summer Camp Synopsis

This was our first summer using a lottery to fill camp spaces instead of open registration. From our end, it was so much smoother and we hope you felt that way too. This system eliminated the opening day panic and made sure folks with slower connection speeds had a fighting chance to get in! We will make some slight changes to the system for next year to make it even smoother, but this system is going to stay.

We want to make sure our education programs support our community, provide high-quality educational experiences, and are aligned with our mission to protect birds and the places they need. We covered over $3,300 of scholarships to summer campers thanks to generous donors and the Green Mountain Audubon Society (our local Audubon Chapter). In this same spirit, ALL camp staff are paid, including our CITs, and our AmeriCorps members receive a stipend as part of their contract. This is made possible through our partnership with HireAbility Vermont and Serve Learn Earn.

Audubon campers spend their time outside! In fact, the only reason we come inside is for hazardous weather conditions. We beat the heat looking for amphibians and insects at the brook, building fairy houses in the woods, and playing water games in the field (reusable water balloons became a favorite of preschool camp!). We only had screen time ONCE this whole summer, during a wash-out of a week in August-- all campers came together for a movie screening and popcorn in the barn. All summer long we cooked over fires, built shelters, read sooooo many books, sang songs, participated in a black-smithing demonstration, saw birds being banded, dressed up like critters, played “life and death in the forest”, met real-life fairies, learned how to use binoculars and went on bird walks, dissected owl pellets AND SO MUCH MORE!

Thank you for sending your children to Audubon for their summer fun. We know you have many choices for camp. We are honored to serve you and your children.

I also want to send special thanks to our summer staff who worked so hard to put on a safe and exciting summer for campers. They are the special sauce that makes camp different and special every year.

And last, but most importantly, we are grateful for the use of the land we call the Green Mountain Audubon Center. We are its current stewards but this property is open to all from sunrise to sunset every day of the year. We hope to see you out of the trails one day soon. 

Summer Camp Break Down

• 269 Unique campers
• 380 Camp spaces
• Our campers are overwhelmingly our neighbors! 77% of campers are from Chittenden County, including 30% of campers who are from Huntington and bordering towns. The rest are from Washington and Addison Counties. A small number spend only their summers in Vermont.
• 4 trips to the Birds of Vermont museum
• 1 hike up Camel’s hump
• 10 high school CITs helped make camp run smoothly
• 6 Educators joined our team of year-round staff and AmeriCorps members who make our camps run!
• The last week of summer camp had the longest waitlist for both Preschool and Ecology day camps.
• 2 summer camp volunteers shared their time with us at camp. Thank you!

Things to know

• If you haven’t checked out the blog, this is where we post weekly updates on what we did all summer. Take a peek to get an idea of the kinds of things we do at Audubon summer camps.
• Summer Camp 2025 lottery will open Mid-February 2025.
• Can’t wait for summer? Join us at Vacation Camp during school breaks!
• We still have some unclaimed items in Lost & Found, please take a look and give us a call if you see something that is yours. It all goes to Goodwill or gets cycled into our gear loan in December.