Last Friday at a meeting of the Tucson Atheists, I met the mother of one of the Camp Quest AZ campers this year. She also happens to be married to one of the volunteer counselors. I had never met her before and had no idea she was at the meeting. She told me after the meeting how much her son loved camp and especially how much he loved building a FrogBot robot. Her son tried to show it off on the way home but it broke. However, he fixed it and proudly showed it working. Camp Quest AZ was almost a month ago, but this story reminded me about the experience and why I do it every year.

Camp Quest AZ 2018 was the last week of June. There were 46 campers this year. The youngest was 8, the oldest 17. This was the 6^th year for the camp and my 5^th year as a volunteer program counselor. Program counselors are charged with providing the activities such as fishing, archery, survival skills, etc. There are also cabin counselors that are charged with the campers from a specific cabin. The campers are divided into their cabins by age and gender. Older campers assist the volunteers though a program called the Leadership Track. These LTs spend time at camp developing and running activities such as team games and the “Carnival”—an exceptional effort which includes music, games, face painting, balloons, and prizes. This year, one of last year’s LTs came back and did an excellent job as a volunteer camp counselor. Knowing that gave me a good feeling about the future of Camp Quest AZ.

My contributions include a variety of programs normally centered around technology of some sort. This year I provided two robotic programs: the FrogBot and the Line Tracker Car. The FrogBot was designed to be built in 45 minutes and involved the use of only a hot glue gun. The Line Tracker Car was from a kit which took about 4 hours to build. The campers used soldering irons and small hand tools.

So…what keeps me coming back? A variety of things. Preparing for Camp Quest is an outlet for creativity. I get to use a lot of technical skill and exercise my program managing skills. Developing a program involves research, engineering, acquiring materials, and prototyping. Making it all come together in time for camp is a program management challenge. The ultimate reason I keep coming back is to share with the young campers the ability to make things with their hands. I want to pass on the ability to work with materials and enjoy the sense of accomplishment and the story of a young camper working to fix his FrogBot in order to show it off is just icing on the cake.

I look forward to camp every year and I’m always looking out for the next program.

You can read more about Camp Quest and its origins HERE. The Camp Quest Arizona site is located HERE.