Parent Testimonials
Check out what some of our camper parents have had to say about their Camp Quest experience!
From a Camper Parent:
What keeps our family coming back to Camp Quest is the way it opens our children up to a wider world. It helps ensure we do not get stuck in a small bubble of our own experiences and perspectives, and instead encourages curiosity, empathy, and connection with people who are different from us.
One of the most surprising things my camper learned was how natural respect can be. At Camp Quest, honoring someone’s identity is not treated as something complicated or performative. It is simply basic kindness, modeled every day by campers and staff alike. The Camp Quest community feels like freedom from judgment and freedom from the need to justify who you are. There is room to be different, and even room to not have yourself fully figured out yet.
Spaces like Camp Quest matter now more than ever. Every child deserves a place where they can simply be a kid and feel completely safe being themselves. For many children, Camp Quest is the only place where that kind of safety and belonging exists. For our family, finding a camp grounded in curiosity, kindness, and inclusion has meant everything.
I would absolutely recommend Camp Quest to other families. The experience is unlike anything else. Being able to be one hundred percent yourself without fear or judgment is a gift, and it builds confidence in a way very few environments do. If Camp Quest did not exist, families would be missing a safe, joyful way to expose their children to a wide variety of people and experiences, without pressure or expectation.
From Janie, Camper Parent and Volunteer:
“I went to “Young Women’s camp” every year that I was eligible for it in the Mormon Church. It starts when you are twelve. It is camp in the sense that you are in the woods in cabins and you do things like hike, but it is nothing like Boy Scout camp. The boys in the Mormon Church get scouts but the girls don’t. The boys also get about three times the budget. They do things like rock climbing and knife sharpening. Girls hike and bear testimonies ad nauseum and talk about the joys of motherhood that await. College is strongly encouraged but only so that you have something “to fall back on” if something (god forbid) is to happen to your husband.
One woman came to camp very pregnant with her eighth child to teach us about basket weaving. She had once been very skilled at this craft but the demands of 7+ children had overwhelmed her ability to craft anymore. I imagine now that there wasn’t much left in her day to focus on herself at all. Another middle age woman was the keynote speaker at the night’s activities and her message was to focus on your inner appearance but it included the message to “look nice when you leave the house… put on makeup… look good … because that will make you feel better about yourself and besides people WILL judge you on your appearance so be modest and attractive as you represent yourself” In short – inner beauty inextricably tied to outer beauty.
One day we wore bricks.
Yes we all had to wear a brick. It had to be in our bag or on our person somehow. I alternated between tying it around my waist or putting it in my backpack. If you were found without your brick the spy who spotted you got brownie points. This day of brick wearing culminated in an emotionally charged testimony meeting that went late into the night. As an analogy to the atonement of Christ each girl could have their brick removed “the load lightened by the Lord” after the bearing of their testimony. Religious events of this type quickly become overzealous, incredibly intimate, feverish almost, with emotions and tears flowing. All the while, little thought for what is actually being said given. The meeting is ruled by feelings, critical thinking at an all time low. It has taken me a long time to leave those emotions behind.
When we left the Mormon Church as a family, the question oft on our minds was “what about the kids?” their entire social structure and schedule was heavily Mormon. I thought about girls camp and knew the advice to “stay for the kids, even if you don’t believe” was wrong. If anything we needed to leave FOR the kids.
Like a breath of fresh air Camp Quest floated by on my radar. Thankful for the generous donations of others three of our children were able to attend and my husband and I were volunteers.
I can’t even calculate the differences between my children’s experiences at Camp Quest and my past experiences at church camp. Camp Quest was not overly atheistic in any way. There was no overt pressure to believe any particular thing. Logic and reason was weaved in the activities in gentle ways like Socrates café. My kids didn’t have to hide our lack of belief either. My daughter is always guessing who might be the more ‘secular’ of her friends in school but never quite has the courage to outright ask. Camp Quest was a little haven in the year to be around people who don’t have to think exactly like you but won’t judge you. It was an incredibly rewarding experience for all of our children and we plan to make Camp Quest part of our family tradition.
For me it was a bit unsettling. Each a-ha moment at Camp Quest, each time I was amazed at the intelligence of a camper’s comment, each time Socrates café started reminding us that everyone there were equals, each time we had a moment of science, or looked at Saturn through the telescope my mind wandered back to my camp experience. No one had bricks tied to them. No one would be coerced into tearful testimony. No one would be tying young girls self esteem up to motherhood. These kids were given an environment at Camp Quest to be themselves, think their own thoughts, and chart their own course. For that was incredibly grateful and somewhat jealous.”
From Jason, Camper Parent
“As a parent it has made it an extreme priority to make sure my kids are well prepared and able to do “away from home” camps with better results than I had. So many are church based so that everyone who already goes to that church already know each other. They also often make it a religious themed camp that kids can’t really escape from if they aren’t already indoctrinated into the religions. We want summer camp memories but without the brow beating of religious teachings and dogmatic recitations. Not only that, can it be a place of exploring, of learning, of welcome like we kinda saw in those 90s movies? Can a new kid just show up and get integrated in? Can they come home actually WANTING to go back? That magical summer camp experience may not be real, but I could at least make sure they have a good time and make memories. They’ve made it through other camps before, and they were great, but they weren’t that sweet spot of adventure and fun.
Then we went to Camp Quest.
The kids absolutely loved this camp. In the weeks leading up to this new camp, both were against any kind of sleep away camp because of the new people, the mandatory prayer, the missed activities, the rigorous scheduling, the list went on and on. Yet, when we came to pick them up, they had nothing but good things to tell us. They weren’t rushing to get in the car to get home and away as quickly as possible, they were paling around with the counselors, waving goodbye to new friends, showing off things they had made. Neither kid could get a sentence out before the next one cut in, they were that pumped about this camp.
My oldest listed off all her bunk mates alongside her favorite counselors and all the fun things they did. Not only did they get to do the nails and make-up that she loves, she got to create a bunch of bracelets and artwork for her friends. She caught her first fish, saw how a wasp nest is made, climbed some rock walls, found a new favorite food dish, and even had her first philosophical debates at the Socrates Café. My youngest ALSO caught his first fish, DID end up attempting every activity, and he too participated in those discussions as well. He was particularly excited to share a “hot-seat” event where you talk about your favorite new thing you’ve learned about fellow campers and counselors. Neither one had a story about how they felt frustrated or had to explain themselves to others. Only stories of how their Critical Thinking Challenge skits were a big success, and how their intereactions with nature were a ton of fun as well as educational.
The kids had found a welcoming, inclusive, safe, exciting, engaging, and all around wonderful summer camp. The staff there did a phenomenal job, with easy check-in, safety briefings, and proper counselor training and camper ratio. There was no judgement of anyone’s sexuality, identity, religious affiliation, or background. They took extreme care to ensure that safety standards were maintained like properly registering every medication at check in, and recording the application of medication to the day, time, and dosage, and reason. The staff hand delivered mail and letters to campers that we could leave behind as there were no cell phones or electronics at this camp. A wonderful screen break for the kids, even IF they collected enough numbers to fill the coming weeks with texting their camp friends.
From the sounds of it, they had that 90’s summer that I thought didn’t exist. Camp Quest is the place that really restores that hope for me and I’m so glad the kids got to experience that. This is the camp the kids say they want to go back to. This is the camp that taught the kids inquisitiveness instead of authoritative lectures when it comes to science and nature. This is the camp where no one had to hide their sexuality or be afraid to come forward with their own identity – everyone felt safe to do so and much learning was done.
I’m so glad I sent my kids to Camp Quest. Camp Quest is also great because it is secular and inclusive – none of the tuition goes to fund religious organizations or anti-inclusive groups. It goes directly to the nonprofit that uses those funds to expand secular camps like this one across the US. Too many camps or summer programs are bible camps or church groups that make inquisitive kids unwelcome. Or worse yet, try to instill some of the toxic superstitions that we find so troubling today.
I plan on sending them back next year and I really do think this camp is something special. You really can have that magical summer camp from the 90s, you just have to know where to look.”
Read the full Substack article here!
