Loras All-Sports Camp

REFUND AND CANCELLATION POLICY

• Prior to February 1: Forfeit $25
• February 1-March 31: Forfeit $75
• April 1-May 31: Forfeit $200
• After June 1: entire tuition + deposit forfeited

Refunds will be permitted only for medical reason verified by the attending physician. Medical cancellations must be verified within 30 days of cancellation to receive full refund—less a $200 processing fee. After 30 days, only half tuition will be refunded. All cancellations must be in written form.

The camp director reserves the right to dismiss any camper whose behavior affects his/her ability to participate or is detrimental to the members of the camp. No refund will be made for absences, dismissals, or withdrawals before the end of the session. In cases of withdrawal during camp based on medical reasons verified by the attending physician within 30 days of withdrawal, remaining tuition may be refunded less the $200 deposit.

There will be a $25 fee for all returned checks.

BALANCE DUE DATE
Final payment for all sessions is due on May 1. If full payment is not received, a late fee of $25 (per camper) will be assessed and the application will be placed on the waiting list for that session. All fees must be paid prior to camp arrival.

PROGRAM CANCELLATION
Where health and safety are an issue, at the discretion of the camp director, programs and activities may be cancelled or postponed at any time due to inclement weather or other unanticipated circumstances of a serious matter as they arise with no refund provided.

A confirmation letter will be mailed in early March and will list the payment breakdown for each camper and any balance due. This letter will also be emailed to you one week later. Final payment are due May 1. Credit cards will NOT automatically be charged. You may call the camp office to charge the remaining camper balance or check the appropriate box on the bottom portion of your confirmation letter and return it to the camp office.

An email reminder is sent approximately one week prior to the final payment date for each session. Please be sure to have current email information in your camper account. A $25 fee will be assessed per camper for late payments.

Final payment for all sessions is due May 1. If full payment is not received, a late fee of $25 (per camper) will be assessed and the application will be placed on the waiting list for that session. If a payment plan is needed, please contact the camp office. All fees must be paid prior to camp arrival.

To complete camper forms in your account prior to the start of registration, you will need to create an account or sign in and select “I just want to add or update my information” from the ADD PROGRAM tab. This will allow access to the camper’s dashboard before sessions are available for selection.

NEW CAMPERS
Sign In or Sign Up to create a new camper account. Multiple campers (siblings) may be added to one account. All forms need to be completed on the camper dashboard, including the Health Form, Camper Profile, Waiver, Years Attended, and Heard From. Day campers will also be asked to fill out the Huddle Buddy Request Form and the Day Camper Release Form.

RETURNING CAMPERS
Sign In or Sign Up to access all forms need to be completed on the camper dashboard, including the Health Form, Camper Profile, Waiver, Years Attended, and Heard From. Day campers will also be asked to fill out the Huddle Buddy Request Form and the Day Camper Release Form. Forms are not transferrable from the prior year to ensure that all information is current.

For early registration you will not be selecting camper activities at the time of session selection and making your deposit. Information on entering sport preferences will be emailed to early registrants at a later time. Activity assignments will be made in early March based on the date and time registrations were received. Confirmations letters will be both emailed and mailed in hard copy form in early March.

Care package and 0ne-way email orders will also be available for selection during registration.

We recommend all camper forms be completed prior to the early and regular registration periods. This will help to expedite the selection of your session choice and making the required $200 minimum deposit payment. Please contact the camp office at 563.588.7053 if you are having trouble with your password or logging into your camper account. You may also email us at sports.camp@loras.edu.

All camp staff are background checked through the Loras College Human Resource Office. Counselors have completed a minimum 1 year of College, many of whom were previous campers. Instructors are teachers and coaches from surrounding area high schools and colleges.

Summer camp is a unique respite from the pressures of everyday life. In addition to being fun, attending camp is a wonderful growing and learning opportunity for your child, and will provide him/her with skills, lessons, friendships, and memories that will last a lifetime. Camp is a great place to unlock a child’s potential, develop self-esteem and enhance their social skills while having the time of their lives. You as parents should feel good about providing your child with this wonderful opportunity, and the “letting go” will be good for both of you. It will help develop a healthy independence. For first-time camper, how he/she is prepared will influence the overall experience, and parents are often the key to a rewarding and successful camp session.

First, parents should be supportive and sensitive. Any new experience, especially in a new environment, causes nervousness, but a positive outlook and encouragement are crucial to a successful camp experience. This includes parents as well as campers! According to Bob Ditter, a social worker and former camp director, “Homesickness is as much a parent’s problem as it is a child’s problem.” Talk to your child about camp, the expectations, activities, and the environment, and the fun they will have. A prepared and encouraged child will feel less apprehensive about the impending camp term. Encourage overnight stays with friends and relatives prior to going to camp. This will help your child adjust to being away from home and adapting to new surroundings.

Secondly, how a parent responds to that first “homesick” letter can make or break the camp experience. According to University of California psychologist Chris Thuber, homesickness is actually the norm and not the exception. In his studies he found that a whopping 83% of the campers studied reported homesickness on at least one day of camp. David G. Richardson, director of the Fay School, states, “Homesickness is a part of life. It’s a part of growing up and breaking away. Most people experience homesickness at some time in their lives. Many people learn to cope with homesickness at summer camp, and camp is a good place to deal with the feeling of homesickness. Camp is a place for children to learn self-confidence. Camp is a place where children learn about responsibility. Camp is a place to have fun with new friends. Camp is a safe, caring environment where nurturing adults are trained to support children through this sometimes difficult growth process. Homesickness is normal and will go away!”

If you should receive a homesick letter from your camper, don’t panic! If you can, wait for the next letter to see if the content has become more optimistic. Often the first couple of days are a big adjustment and it may take some time for your camper to become more involved in the program, cabin and activities and to make some friends. Be sympathetic, but positive and encouraging in your replies. Don’t dwell on how much you miss them, how lonely things are without them or giving too much information about home which may cause anxiety. Ask lots of questions about camp, their activities, new friends, and be encouraging. Also, in this day of instant access, email is wonderful for quick messages. Parents need to be careful, though, not to send so many instant “messages” that they interfere with their child’s adjustment to camp life. If things continue to look ‘grim’, be prepared to work with camp staff to help your child work through the situation. Call camp and express your concerns. Let the staff investigate the situation and get back with you. Have faith in your camper and the camp staff. Your child’s camp counselors play an important role in the adjustment process and are probably the most instrumental persons in dealing with your camper. They are prepared. Let them do the job you have entrusted them to do.

We take the attitude that homesickness is a natural occurrence and simply means that a camper misses his/her family and the security of being with them. Our job is to help your camper work through these feelings and to learn to feel secure in the camp environment. Rest assured that if your child is having an extremely difficult time at camp that someone from camp will contact you to discuss the best way to handle the situation and your child. If you don’t hear from camp, but the letters home are sad, then this could mean your child is writing homesick letters, but not exhibiting homesick behavior. It is very possible that your camper is actually doing well at camp, but had a low moment of some kind which he/she needed to share with you. View this as a compliment because your child trusts you and knows he/she can count on you for comfort and encouragement at that difficult moment.

Please avoid the temptation to pick your child up early if he/she is unhappy, or to “make a deal”. Avoid telling your child, “If you give camp a few days and don’t like it, I will come get you.” The offer to rescue your child is done with the best of intentions, but a child may focus on nothing else but how to make this happen and will never give camp a fair chance. Don’t feel guilty about encouraging your child to stay at camp. This opportunity is the first step toward independence and plays an important role in their growth and development. However, trust your instincts. A very small percentage of homesick cases can be severe, with a camper not eating or sleeping and suffering from severe anxiety or depression. In these circumstances, camp will work with the families and camper to get through this rough time, but in rare occasions it may be necessary for the child to go home. If this is the decision, the remaining time spent at home is vital to keeping the child productive and minimizing blows to his/her self-esteem. Discuss what worked and didn’t work for your child at camp. Emphasize that it was a learning experience and discuss what was leaned. Focus on the positive and encourage your child to try a new adventure or program next summer.

We will do everything in our power to insure a memorable and happy camp experience for your child. If you have any concerns this summer, please let us know. Our goal is for your camper to be with us for many summers and that Loras All-Sports camp will be their ‘home away from home”!

Once the payment has been processed, an email confirmation will be sent and the online status will change to “Registered”. Online camper status will remain at “Enrolled but not registered” until the minimum deposit or payment has been processed. Activities will be assigned in March, prior to mailing confirmation letters. We appreciate your patience as we process the many applications we receive each year.

Our one-way email is available on your camper dashboard. All emails will be printed daily and given to campers at breakfast. Emails will be delivered Monday through Friday. Friday morning emails must be sent no later than 11:59 p.m. Thursday evening to assure delivery Friday morning. Return emails from campers are not available.

Letters may be mailed to or from campers and small care packages may be sent to the camper in care of the Loras All-Sports Camp. Please limit packages to shoe-box size or smaller. Oversized packages will not be delivered to campers. Due to camper allergies, we ask that you do not send balloons or flowers.

Per the camp policy, campers are not allowed to call home or permitted to bring cellular phones or two-way radios. If your camper is having a hard time adjusting to camp, a call from the head counselor or camp director will be made to you to discuss the situation. Cell phones, smart watches, pagers, or two-way radios will be taken and held until the end of the week.

No. Unless you have selected “Charge my credit card on file” on your confirmation letter or previously set up a payment plan through the camp office, your credit card will not be billed automatically. You may pay by check, by online credit card in your camper’s online account, or by phoning in the credit card payment to the camp office at 563.588-7053.

A huddle group is the group your camper will be assigned to at camp. Huddle groups are made up of approximately 10-12 campers per counselor. Roommates are assigned to the same huddle group and will be together with their counselor in the residence hall and the entire day, with the exception during major and minor activities and free-time.

Huddle groups are put together based on grade; roommates must be the same grade or one grade apart. Huddles groups will consist of campers who are either all in the same grade or a mixture of campers within one grade apart (i.e. all grade five campers or a mixture of grades 4 and 5)

Camp is a great place to meet new friends and make lifelong memories. You may request one roommate. Please make sure the roommate also requests you. Roommates will be placed together in the same huddle group. Campers who do NOT know their roommate can request to be in a huddle with one other camper they know. Please call the office at 563.588.7053 to obtain the Loras All-Sports Camp Request Form. For Day Campers, please fill out the required Huddle Buddy Form on your camper dashboard.

Once we begin the process of assigning activities to campers, online activities must be turned off to avoid interruptions during this process. The activities are assigned based on camper registration date and time in the order they were received into the computer. Activities will be printed on the confirmation letter and mailed and emailed in early March.

Minors are sorted by a computer program and split into two equal afternoon sessions. There is no guarantee you will end up in the same minor session as your friends. Majors have only one session for each activity so campers with the same major will be together.

An information sheet will be included with your confirmation email. The information sheet is also available on your camper’s dashboard under Downloadable Forms. This lists all the required equipment for each sport, as well as the basic necessities a camper will need throughout the week at camp.

Camp vouchers in the amount of $200 or $300 will need to be mailed into the camp office to be credited towards a camper’s account. You are not able to use the vouchers towards deposits at registration time. Please mark the camper’s name on the voucher before mailing.

Camp store money is optional. Our camp store will be open during Sunday check-in and the Camp Olympics on Friday, as well as during free-time and in the evening each day. Juices, water, candy, and clothing/hats are available for sale. Please send your camper with a combination of smaller denominations. Recommended amount to bring would be $50-$60.

Please call the camp office to notify us of the approximate time the camper will be arriving. Campers will not be permitted to check-in after 8 p.m. on Sunday. Arrivals after 8 p.m. need to check in on Monday morning at 8:30 a.m. at the camp office in Rohlman Hall. Campers will not be permitted to check in later than 8:30 a.m. on Monday morning. Please call the camp office with any questions at 563.588.7053 or 563.588.4940.

Please email our camp nurse with medication questions and information.
sportscampnurse@loras.edu.

Please call the camp office 563.588.7053. Changes cannot be made online.

We believe it is important that campers are involved in all activities of the camp. Campers are expected to remain in camp at all times. If a resident camper chooses to leave camp for other than for medical or family emergency reasons, he/she will not be allowed to return. If a day camper chooses to leave camp for other than for medical or family emergencies, he/she will not be allowed to return until the next morning.