It’s fun to stay at the YMCA, and at the YMCA Santa Barbara Center this summer, youths can participate in all kinds of programs, including sports camps, day camps and family camps.
Andrea Opfer, the YMCA Santa Barbara Center’s youth program director, said that although the sports and day camps are popular, many youths enjoy the Sequoia Lake Youth and Teen Camps.
The camp runs from Aug. 3-10, and about 200 youths in fourth to 10th grade from Santa Barbara County attend.
Opfer said campers participate in activities such as canoeing, fishing, archery, rock climbing and a special rags and leather program — a character development course where children learn to set and achieve goals.
“It’s more of a vacation than a camp thing,” she said. “(Kids) get to have fun, learn new games and make new friends.”
All counselors who participate in Sequoia Lake Youth and Teen Camps are volunteers, Opfer said. For those interested in becoming a counselor, she said volunteers must be older than 18, and they require a background check and an interview. In late July, qualified volunteers will be trained.
“We are always accepting volunteers,” she said.
In addition to Sequoia Lake Camps, Opfer said the YMCA runs a Teen Whitewater Adventure Caravan from July 21-26, where 14 teenagers in seventh to 11th grade drive up the California coast.
During the week, she said participants camp out on beaches, do a ropes course, walk across the Golden Gate Bridge, visit Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39, and ice skate on the 1960 Winter Olympics rink. At the end of the week, the teens go whitewater rafting at Lake Tahoe on the American River. Last year, Opfer said the group went to Sacramento and met a senator.