For Sara Gama, ArtSci ’25, paddling and portaging through the rain and pushing through the hard moments is what Camp Outlook is all about.
Every summer, Queen’s students volunteer for Camp Outlook, leading outdoor canoe trips for youth in the Kingston area who wouldn’t have the opportunity to experience the outdoors otherwise. Founded by a Queen’s alum 54 years ago, Camp Outlook is funded by a combination of grants and community donations.
Gama volunteered leading trips at Camp Outlook during her first year and found the experience rewarding. With no experience necessary, the camp trains its volunteers in wilderness first-aid and CPR training for free before sending them on trips with campers.
“It’s through doing these challenging, outdoor experiences like canoeing and portaging, where a camper is able to shine and learn that they are capable of doing these hard things,” Gama said in an interview with The Journal.
All the trips are free for campers, who are referred to the program by social services, teachers, parents, or guardians, and who go on multi-day trips lasting between five and 14 days in Algonquin Park.
Ron Kimberly, MD ’73 and ArtSci ’74, started Camp Outlook approximately 50 years ago to support Kingston youth. Though staff used to be entirely Queen’s students, Camp Outlook recruits from other universities and countries now.
For the past couple of years, Camp Outlook has been struggling to recruit students, according to the Board of Directors. In their statement to The Journal, the Board said there’s been a lack of interest in extracurricular activities since the pandemic, and ineffective online advertising is the culprit of falling applications.
Outlook has turned to in-person events to advertise, including organizing a guest speaker event with the Queen’s University Outdoors Club. Camp Outlook has manned a table at the Queen’s Summer and Part Time Job Fair, and produced a podcast.
For Barbara Martin, who was once a trip leader, camp coordinator, and now President of the Board of Outlook Camping Inc, the trips are as beneficial for staff as they are for campers.
“People do interesting things with their lives after, partly because Outlook reinforces things in them that then they can draw on for whatever they choose to do in life going forward,” Martin said.
Martin, also an adjunct professor at Queen’s, said staff have gone on to start their own non-profit organizations or become lawyers after working at Camp Outlook.
Martin believes the trips enforce a sense of community and teamwork.
“[The campers] came back stronger, they came back more confident, they came back understanding there were different options in life than perhaps what they might have seen from the north end of Kingston,” Martin said.
Camp Outlook is hiring for this summer and encourages all students to apply through their website.
Tags
Camp Outlook, Leadership, opportunity, Outdoors
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to eic@queensjournal.ca.