Colbytown Camp

Why a Camp?

The initial idea for Colbytown Camp emerged from a discussion during a Colby Junior College religion class (possibly the class, Philosophy of Life) during World War II. The students, specifically Dorothy Candy, class of 1938, were curious about what happens to war refugee children and how they adjust to their new lives in a different country. In the class they learned about social activist Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s “New Americans in Vermont,” a program which helped to place refugees in foster homes. Fisher’s project inspired the students to push for the development of a program that would help refugees during their time of need; it was decided that a summer camp would be the best way for the college to help.

Colbytown Camp was created to help refugee and immigrant children adjust to their new life in America during World War II. It was believed the camp could help ‘Americanize’ the children, and therefore make their life in a new country easier. Each summer approximately 24 girls, between the ages of 8-12 were selected to attend camp based on their need, religion and race.

Creating Colbytown Camp would also provide Colby Junior College students with new opportunities to conduct real life experiments in the fields of social science and religion. The goal of the experiment was to prove that racism is a learned behavior and it was conducted by inviting 24 little girls each summer who came from a variety of races and religions and having them live among one another for four weeks.

The camp opened on June 27, 1940 and was initially named Camp Halekulani by the campers, meaning house without a key. A new experience for all involved, the camp raised concerns from both the campers and the town of New London.  Some of the campers were actually afraid to attend camp before arriving, because they had been in concentration camps and did not comprehend the difference until actually arriving at camp to see there was not a large fence trapping them inside and that they would simply be participating in the activities. At the other extreme, the town of New London was hesitant to have foreign campers around because there was a rising fear of communism coming to America.  After the town learned what the project was truly about, the community members accepted the camp and the name was changed to Colbytown Camp to reflect a partnership between the college and town.

Life at Camp

In 1970, the Colbytown Camp committee suggested that counselors should receive academic credit for their work at Colbytown Camp.  Reasons for this suggestion included that counselors were giving up a month of their summer; that the camp was in fact an experiment; because they put time in before the camp session began, participating in mandatory training sessions; and they went to visit future campers beforehand in their home environment, in order to get a better understanding of each camper’s home life. In order to receive credit, a professor had to monitor and instruct the course. The summer of 1974 was the first year the counselors received credit for their work.  In order to accommodate this change, fewer campers were accepted to the program that summer.

The Colbytown committee also worked to ensure that campers had the opportunity to excel later in life, without having to worry about financial constraints.  Scholarships were offered to any camper who was accepted to Colby Junior College and agreed to serve as a Colbytown Camp counselor while attending the college.   In order to keep campers interested in Colby Junior College since most of them would not be of age to attend for almost seven years, the college sent brochures every year as well as an invitation to visit the college during each camper’s junior year of high school. The camp counselors began filling out evaluation forms at the end of each summer about that sessions campers, which helped to determine whether or not a camper should be recommended for the scholarship at Colby Junior College. Mika Canada, who attended camp in 1963, was one of the campers who attended Colby Junior College in 1971 after first being a camper and later, a junior counselor. It is unclear if this program continued after the camp closed in 1989.

Due to the majority of campers wishing to return for another session, a program for junior counselors was created in hopes to allow some campers to return in a different and more mature role.  The idea of having junior counselors was first tried in 1945 and the campers qualified for the program by being an excellent camper in the past, based on final evaluations filled out by the counselors. After the 1945 session, junior counselors were not used again until 1969 with the actual junior counselor program began being fully developed and was put in place during that camp session. After the program was in place, five junior counselors were used each session. The junior counselors helped take some burden off of the counselors by providing them with an additional day off and gave the ex-campers another opportunity to be back at Colbytown Camp. Mika Canada was also one of the first junior counselors.

At the end of each summer, the camp directors and counselors were thanked for the changes they were able to instill in the campers during their four week stay. Most of the campers’ parents shared that, after attending, the girls were more independent and got along better with others who differed from them based on race and creed. Erny Pollinger, a social worker who recommended girls to Colbytown Camp, stated, “I have never seen a happier group, eyes shining, cheeks tanned and high spirit.” [5]  Pollinger added, a few years later, “The girls themselves were unanimously enthusiastic and are always pleading to be allowed to go back.” [6]  Rebekah L Taft, who also recommended girls for Colbytown Camp, commented on this stating, “You see, you are helping people whom you have not even seen,” implying that after Colbytown Camp the campers would take what they learned and apply it to their own life. [7]

It was not only the parents and recruiters who loved Colbytown Camp.  Campers loved their time at the camp and walked away with many fond memories.  Many wished to give back to the camp; for example, one year they made stuffed animals to donate to other children who did not attend Colbytown Camp. The experience made many campers wish they could return for another session. Numerous campers stated, “The worst thing about Colbytown Camp is you never can go but once.” [8]  Dina Bikerman, who was once a camper, asked if she could return as a counselor. Above all, the greatest benefit campers gained from attending Colbytown Camp was happiness. One observer stated, “May God Bless each and every one for bringing in so much happiness into her young life. It’s folks like you and your girls that makes this world a worthwhile place to live in.” [9]

While Colbytown Camp was open, the age limit of the campers fluctuated between 6 and 14. This caused issues when accepting applications because no one was ever sure whether an exception should be made or what the age group should be exactly because there had been such a wide range. The age limit was finally strictly set to 8-11 in 1950 because the camp found that older 11 and 12 year olds want to do more adolescent things and end up needing more attention than the camp staff had to offer. The age limit and this comment suggest that younger eleven year olds were still accepted to the program.  One of the reasons the strict age limit came about was due to the fact counselor, Margaret Morse and other counselors found that the more adolescent girls probably would have enjoyed attending a co-ed camp because they were becoming interested in boys and distracting the younger children from the normal activities. [10]   The younger, six and seven-year-olds were also removed because they were viewed as too young to fully benefit from and understand the camp’s project.