Wisconsin Badger PRIMITIVE Camp (additional post #3)

This past summer I was a counselor at Wisconsin Badger Camp in Prairie du Chien, WI. WBC as it is affectionately known as is a camp for adults with developmental disabilities. It offers 10 weeks of camp where the campers get to participate in activities such as Nature, Arts and Crafts, Recreation, Swimming, and Music. While our traditional camp is awesome and benefits a lot of people, that's not what I would like to focus on in this post. Instead I am going to talk about two other programs that WBC offers: "Primitive Camp."





"Prim" is a camp  session that goes a step beyond the regular weekly camp. It is definitely a little more rustic. Although the campers still sleep in cabins, they do not have any running water or electricity and all of their meals are cooked over the fire. All of their activities take place on the "prim" campsite, which is about a mile off of main camp.  They only come up to main camp twice a week to shower and have the opportunity to swim in the camp pool. It is however required that the campers who participate in "prim" are higher finctioning. I think that this is an awesome opportunity for many becuase it is so our of the norm for them. Being in the camp atmosphere overall is a great situacion because no one is judged by their disability and they are accepted for who they are, sometimes for the first time. Additionally, prim is a place for them to  gain some independence and get their  hands dirty, figuratively and literally. From my experience, many people who have disabilities are treated so delicately, like they are going to break if you aren't extra careful. It's hard to know what they are capable of unless you sometime push the boundaries. I think prim is a great opportunity for these individuals to have the chance to push themselves to do something out of the norm and see what they can really do! WBC is a great place and I am honored to have been a part of it :) Until next time, Katie