When summer hits, Holt staff gets fired up — and we aren’t talking about that July heat! This month we kicked off our annual Holt Adoptee Camp, a five-week adventure that spans from Wisconsin to Oregon to Georgia to California and finally concludes in Pennsylvania. At each of these five locations, hundreds of campers have the chance to connect with other adoptees for five days of summertime fun — swimming and bonfires, making friends, learning camp songs and discussing adoptee-related issues like race, identity and family.
It’s one of our favorite times of year, because we love hearing about the impact Holt camp has on the campers. We so often hear that it is the highlight of their summer — a time of both fun and feeling right at home among other kids who share one common bond: they are all growing up adopted.
Holt has a new camp director this year! We are excited to introduce Cameron Small, a Korean adoptee who first volunteered at Holt Camp three summers ago. He says his first summer as a counselor was life-changing for him. “Having that sense of belonging with such an awesome group of people was powerful for me,” he says. Since then, he has helped with other Korean adoptee camps and returned to Holt camp with a passion to serve the campers. This year, Cameron and his three leadership staff members are excited to start some new traditions and also partake in old favorites. Cameron says his hopes for camp are pretty simple. “My main heart is that everyone is safe and has an awesome time,” Cameron says. “I hope the campers can have a sense of empowerment and really feel what it means to belong and hear each other’s stories.”
We had time to catch up with him for an edition of Holt TV earlier this month, just before he left Holt’s headquarters in Eugene for the first camp of the summer in Wautoma, Wisconsin.
Check out other episodes of Holt TV here.
There’s still time to sign up for our remaining camps! Visit our camp webpage to learn more! Or just show up at the camp in your area on the first day, and register in person!