At Camp Starlight, creativity is welcomed and encouraged.

Campers are inspired to display their creative side all day and all night! From writing songs, to wearing wacky face paint or even dressing in silly outfits for the day. There is no better place to develop your imaginative side than at camp!

Camp Starlight is a place where creativity is weaved into daily camper life! We encourage campers to try new activities in our Starlight Studios.

 

Here campers can choose to design robots in Makerspace, host a sports radio show at Sports Broadcasting, learn how to edit photos in Digital Photography, make a movie in Video Production, design costumes and sew in the Dressing Room, create logos in Graphic Design, or pick up a new instrument and learn how to sing in Rock Garage and the Basement! Campers can also be seen dancing, cooking and of course creating art in Ceramics, Woodworking and Arts and Crafts!

As the sun sets our creativity keeps going in all of our unique and fun evening activities. A highlight event, MTV Night, takes over the camp, with campers and counselors coming together to display a spectacular show featuring costumes, dance routines, and songs all in the name of expressing themselves, along with the most importance part of any costume, a big smile! Camp Starlight is proud to nurture creative talents. We encourage our campers to embrace their creative side with a ton of Starlight Spirit!

 

The Starlight Alma Mater is sung after most all-camp gatherings throughout the summer.

As the entire camp sings together in unison, you hear one line that especially represents the vast Camp Starlight community: “Let there be no goodbyes.” At Starlight, while distance may separate us from time to time, the special thing about Camp Starlight is that relationships last forever.

When you reminisce about camp during the winter, you probably think of the lake, the activities, and the fun, but camp is so much more than that…

Through your years as a camper, you have the opportunity to live in a bunk with 8 – 12 of your best friends and spend time with the other 560 campers and 300 amazing staff that also call Camp Starlight their summer home. Unfortunately, you can’t be a camper forever. So, as your days as a camper end, the Starlight community keeps in touch. While campers graduate high school, they foster their camp relationships as friends grow together, but they never forget their summer home. Camp Friends come visit us at camp on our Alumni Day during Olympics to rekindle their camp spirit.

As campers travel off to college and the distance from camp becomes greater, we see camp bonds grow stronger. Bunkmates become college roommates or help each other find college roommates. They become sorority sisters and fraternity brothers. We see bunkmates visit each other while away at school as well as meet together when they are home for the holidays. Camp friends grow closer as time passes because our special Starlight community watches out for one another and deeply cares for each other…

After settling into college many former campers reunite at Camp Starlight as they return as counselors to give back to the place they love. We are privileged to watch former campers become role models for the next generation of campers. It is truly something special to watch our former campers take on leadership roles as they are called upon to be Lieutenants, Sing Leaders, and Generals during Olympics.

After college, many of our alumni move to the same cities where they can continue to cherish their camp relationships and connections. Friends hang together on weekends and even attend some of our Alumni events. Many camp friends become bridesmaids and groomsmen at each other’s weddings. Some of those weddings are even to marry a camp couple who fell in love. The cherry on top is a camp couple with camp bridesmaids and groomsmen getting married at Camp Starlight. That is really something special.

The Starlight community not only has social benefits but can help boost your professional life as well. Leaning on the alumni network might even land you a new job.

Friends become colleagues, and colleagues become business partners. Before you know it, the two best friends from Bunk One now own a multi-million dollar corporation…

Of course, after the wedding season, the Future Starlighter comes next. Alumni then have the special experience of watching their own children grow up at their home away from home. Alumni campers become bunkmates with other alumni friends, further growing the Starlight network. We come together each visiting day to reconnect and rekindle old friendships. At Starlight, time and distance between our camp friends are meaningless because we “let there be no goodbyes.”

Some Alumni are fortunate enough to watch their grandchildren grow up at Camp Starlight. Third generation Starlight campers who have had both a parent and grandparent grow up at Camp Starlight share a lifetime of memories and friendships.

The Starlight Family is forever. The bonds of Camp Starlight carry us through our lifetime and are passed down from generation to generation. As we grow older, we pass the torch onto our youngest Starlighters to carry our traditions on for generations to come.

“And how do we keep our balance? I can tell you in one word. Tradition”

Tradition is engrained in the backbone not just in Fiddler on the Roof but also at Camp Starlight. Camp starts with the Opening Night Show and concludes with the Closing Night Show. There are campfires, singalongs, and color war in between. All of these things happen the same way, every year, each year bringing its own flare. Camp just wouldn’t be the same without our long-standing traditions.

But what’s better than long-standing traditions? New traditions that campers and staff add to camp each year. While certain traditions may seem like they’ve existed forever, they had to come from somewhere. One day, a camper or staff member said something, did something or had an idea that blossomed into a yearly tradition. For example, in 2015, we had a counselor who sang a song called “Hey Burrito.” This song is still sung every year during swim tests even though this counselor has not returned to camp. The ability of a counselor or camper to impact the entire camp for years to come is what is so special about traditions. Campers come to camp to be themselves. At Camp Starlight, we value each individual camper. And who knows? Maybe your camper will bring something so unique to camp that we incorporate it into one of our long-standing traditions. The possibilities are endless.

Luck doesn’t only apply to the Irish because every day at Camp Starlight there is a moment that reminds you of how lucky you are to spend a summer in this magical place. Whether you are a camper, counselor or staff member, there are so many reasons that prove how lucky you are to be at Camp Starlight. An iconic reality of Camp Starlight are the endless amounts of traditions that you get to be a part of while at summer camp, these traditions are the foundations of camp and they provide everyone with the opportunity to experience all the fun and history that are in each tradition. For every traditional campfire, everyone is reminded of how magical summer camp is when songs are sung around the flames and when Olympics breaks out, everyone is so appreciative of the games, excitement and camaraderie that defines Olympics. Camp Starlight is a place where every camper and every staff member believes they have the best place in the world because they are so lucky to experience the magic of a Camp Starlight summer. Friendships bloom at camp unlike any other and every time you eat a meal with these friends, go to a sporting event or laugh during an evening activity together, you are reminded of how lucky you are to have met these people here. Camp Starlight is not just a summer camp, it’s a home for people from every corner of the world and how this place is able to bring all these unique people together is why anyone who spends a summer at Camp Starlight should feel lucky to do so.