Camping Survey Results, Part 3: Resident Camp

Almost two years ago, I surveyed members of some Girl Scout Facebook groups about Girl Scout Camps.  I got kind of burned out on blogging and for whatever reason, never published this final installment on the survey results.  So, I'm publishing it now.  

For those who did not see the other posts the first time around, or who want to read them again, they are  Part 1 and Part 2.

Many Girl Scout  die-hards have fond memories of resident camp, whether they were there as girls or as staff.  I know two weeks I spent at Camp Ita Kana were a highlight of my childhood. Still, as anyone my age who is still around Girl Scouts knows, today's resident camp isn't the camp I attended.  Sessions are shorter, staff is older (many of our counselors were high school seniors, not yet 18), and themes are popular--so even though you are at camp the same time someone else is, you may be doing very different things.  In the hotter parts of the country, some camps even offer air conditioned accommodations.  

I recently ran a survey of Girl Scout leaders on a number of Facebook groups about camps and camping and in this post I am going to focus on their  responses to questions about resident camp.  I am not a professional survey developer and this is by no means a random sampling of Girl Scout leaders.  I make no representations that this survey is anything other than an off-the-cuff survey of somewhat self-selected people.  Make of it what you will.

Who Responded?

Of the 513 people who responded, 90.6% were Girl Scout leaders, which, considering where I posted the survey, was to be expected. 81.2% had been adult Girl Scouts for more than three years. 18.2% had not been Girl Scouts as children. 25% had been Girl Scouts in high school.  

What About Resident Camp?

288 people said their daughter had attended Girl Scout resident camp in their council. 213 said their daughter had not.  Unfortunately I didn't think to ask if daughters had attended ANY Girl Scout resident camp.  233 had attended resident camp as children and 272 had not. 

We hear much today about attacks on children, and about helicopter parents.  Of those who responded to my survey, 29 would not allow their daughter to attend resident camp in today's world. 

Our resident camps have competition. Even among the very pro-Girl Scout group that responded to my survey, 137 had daughters who attended non-Girl Scout resident camp and 361 did not.  58.7% said that there were non-Girl Scout camps within the borders of their council which served girls.  

When I offered to send my daughter to Girl Scout resident camp, she asked about air conditioning, and when told there was none, declined.  In my survey 20 people said that their daughter did not want to attend resident camp due to lack of air conditioning, 475 said that was false.   150 respondents said that their council's summer camp has air conditioned dorms, 338 said theirs did not.  

My Comments

As I've said before, I'm glad I'm not the one who has to make the decisions about camps.  I think they are a valuable part of our heritage and an important part of who we are as an organization.  However, they are expensive to run and maintain, particularly if you add amenities like air conditioning or activities with high on-going expenses like horseback riding.  In order to justify the cost, we have to have usage, but without amenities, we have trouble getting usage, and with the amenities we have higher costs which make them harder to afford.  

I know the most popular camp in my area is church-run.  Campers are housed in air-conditioned dorms with adults in the dorms (separate sleeping rooms) and indoor bathrooms/showers. Other than horses, they offer what our Girl Scout camp offers, with the addition of religion (and whether that's a plus or minus depends on your viewpoint). I know they were full last summer.  I know our camp was begging girls to come.  

Your Comments

These are comments left about resident camp.

We are hoping more of our council camps add AC to all cabins. Some are Ac some are not. We are in Texas

Our council is considered a "small" council due to number of girls enrolled. We cover one entire state and go into 2 other states. I'm at the northern tip of our council and 90 minutes from 2 camps. If I were to drive to the other end of our council it would take me 9 hours. It was hard to answer about things our council offers as we have many gs camps and there really is an option for everyone. The farthest someone would have to drive is just under 3 hours to get to a camp. Living in the area that I do, we are very blessed economically. We have 3 sleep away camps within 45 minutes with one being in our town. I love what all three have to offer, but still see the value in our girl scout camp. My daughter has not been to girl scout camp due to number restrictions and staffing problems.

I believe that each Girl Scout troop is unique. We are an outdoorsy troop and the girls want to hike and camp. We went to GS camp this summer and stayed in a big building with no heat or air conditioning. I don't think these are necessary for camp. I would like to see them put more money into the facilities and staff. The camp we went to this summer was grossly understaffed and I had to arrange to have someone come and teach archery.

I further believe that these camps are needed for troops like mine because most of my parents work. If we needed to plan an entire week or weekend of camp, it would take a ton of time for us. I like having the ability to go to camp and have them plan a lot of it for us.

Our council has two wonderful camps. One is more rustic the other more modern. I love GS summer camps because for what you get the price point is amazing compared to other resident camps in our area .

My own daughters enjoy resident and day camps but i feel like to much is centeres on crafts and not on other experiences. Especially for the younger girls. Its also cheaper to reserve a state park site than go to a GS campground.

While my council provides a couple of nice cabins with amenities and properties with nice outdoor spaces, it’s so difficult to actually get a reservation, either for day use or overnight due to council programs, resident camp, day camp and the fact that the entire Chicago area is trying to reserve the same few spots. Our service unit needs to plan a camping weekend a year in advance. We are in an urban area and my Brownie girls love the outdoors - especially right now, camp is a safe place to do activities. I wish the council also provided more trained staff to do activities at the camps too. So even if you can get a reservation, you’re stuck as you need to provide your own lifeguard, archery instructor, etc and that limits the experience. Not all girls will be able to go to day camp (as it’s an hour + away) or to resident camp especially the younger girls. You try your best and make it as fun as you can regardless but things like this make girls/parents less interested in the program as time goes on.

We are in a state where temps can vary greatly, summers are notoriously hot, but we still year after year get girls who attend resident camp and have a wonderful time, even without the comfort of AC.

We love our council camps. The staff is awesome and the girls have an opportunity to experience girl-led in a new way. There are a couple of sleepaway summer camps nearby that are faith based and not all of our girls are religious so our council camps give them an opportunity to do all the camp activities without being indoctrinated.

I chose to send my daughter to GS resident camp because it was by far the most affordable option. I would reconsider in the future because it was over 100 degrees in July and the cabins do not have a/c. This is very dangerous from a health and safety perspective. 

I am not sure if our facilities have heat (South Carolina). I am mixed about GS keeping council camps. It's a lot of labor and maintenance and cost. There are less expensive options for troop camping.  In order to do resident camp, we have to drive 3 hours to drop off. We could camp closer with a different council but then you can't use cookie dough. 

I didn’t answer some of the T/F because they were “it depends”. I think I checked that my daughter did resident camp in council - however that was for my two older daughters. My youngest daughter was not resident camping age when our council closed its resident camps. She has gone to a somewhat nearby council’s resident camp and one this summer that didn’t quite fit the description of what I think of as a resident camp.

As a family - my daughter has been going to summer residential camp since 2nd grade and loves it. As a troop - GSEP has some amazing camp opportunities and they plan excellent weekend experiences fall to spring.

Staffing has been an issue, our local camp only had 5 counselors during 2021

Our council made a commitment to build up their camp program and have secured funding from corporations and individuals to make their camp properties even better.  They also promote girls camping through cookie sales camp credits.  Resident camp programs often sell out early.  

Our council is selling or closing most of their properties.  My girls love GS camps in summer but we have to go to a different council for anything other than troop camping ran by Leaders. 

Girls don't attend summer camp because it is too expensive. Years ago you could earn profit from cookie sales to use towards camp. We lost at least 8 camps that I know of in the last 5 years.