For many, the facility of YMCA itself may be OK to some people, but the camps hosted there are something else.
In this case, the leadership camp was and will forever be the worst one I have seen and experienced in a very, very long time. Just take notes before signing your kid to leadership camps hosted here at all.
First, the councilors and staff there are extremely rude, ignorant, and disrespectful. They have huge egos and attitudes, and take advantage of their superiority as councilors and staff. When a camper makes a mistake or does something wrong, the staff punishes them and the rest of the kid's group as well. The staff makes the CRAZIEST assumptions and believes it to be true (though it really isn't... at all). They also humiliate their campers in front of other camps, and (remembering that I couldn't get this out of my head) LAUGHED at the campers (along with their rude and horrible staff friends) as well. The staff created such an uncomfortable environment for so many campers in a week and a half, that when it came to the overnight trip, a few of my friends went out. The councilors and staffed are also very two-faced, and the director does nothing about it. They also take their frustration out on their campers, but even that could be the least of its worries.
Second, as someone who paid good money to participate in this camp, I realized it hasn't taught me or my friends any actual leadership skills at all, but instead gave the staff a chance to endlessly and endlessly humiliate everyone in the camp. When we pay a few hundred dollars to learn something, you should give the time to teach us the skills for it (and because the money is partially for you [staff] as well). We paid the terrible staff our money and to what use? For them to take advantage over us? For them to yell at us, disrespect us, and humiliate us? Many of us are trying to complete this camp or course, so that it may benefit us in the future and all the staff could do is laugh. Disgusting.
Finally, the staff expected their campers to trust them after all the things they done. Campers would have to stay overnight to finish off their course so that they could volunteer later on. However, said above, they continued to make such an uncomfortable environment from all the messed up things they done, that it was impossible to trust them, and gave a clear vision of what else they could do. I remembered one of the councilors (who's camp name was Sprout), was by far the most rude, disrespectful, and toxic person I have seen growing up (which was probably why they used fake names so they wouldn't be exposed).
Overall, this camp was just straight-up awful. It gave one of my friends a lot of anxiety and me a lot of anger to share. Before you sign your kid up for this camp, just acknowledge what was said above before you enter, and really ask if your kid wants to go. I highly suggest to find another leadership camp that embraces the qualities of campers instead of looking down on them and thinking that every child signed up for the camp has a problem. This camp is really just too late for improvements. I can say that I'm glad I won't be touching surfaces with this camp or place again.
