Over the span of 6 summers, Camp G.T.A. has grown from 120 participants in 2011 up to 250 in 2016, making it one of the largest and most well-known programs in the community! In addition to providing day camp programming for elementary students, Camp G.T.A. also provides leadership, volunteer, and employment opportunities for the youth in the Alexandra Park community and beyond.
The TDSB’s Focus on Youth program is integral in allowing us to provide the best service to the community and accommodate the high demand for this camp. In previous years FOY has provided programs like ours with students for a 7 or 8 week duration, but unfortunately in 2016 the program was cut short to 6 weeks, which in turn affected our ability to operate beyond 6 weeks as well.
| Duration: | July 4th – August 12th (6 weeks) | ||||||||
| Total Registered Participants: | 250 | ||||||||
| Average daily attendance: | 240 | ||||||||
| Participant age range: | 5 years – 19 years/Junior Kindergarten – Grade 12 | ||||||||
| Participants by grade: |
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206 youth registered for our day camp program, designed for students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6. Daily activities include arts, crafts, sports, swimming, field trips, drama, dance and creative writing.
20 grade 7 & 8 students participated in our L.I.T. group, a comprehensive 6-week program where students practice and develop leadership skills. Each morning began with a group exercise class, followed by goal setting and planning activities. Students took the lead on organizing activities for younger campers, as well as community improvement initiatives such as a food drive for homeless families.
24 high school students volunteered over 1,000 hours collectively throughout the summer. The students supported daily summer camp activities and helped to maintain a safe and clean atmosphere for campers.
The feedback from parents, campers and community members has been quite positive. We are proud of the fact that many of our former campers are now staff, volunteers, and, in some instances, parents at Camp G.T.A.!
Although we registered an incredible 250 students this past summer, there were still many families and children who were still not able to participate due to our limited capacity based on staffing and space. An area for improvement would be to extend the duration of the program beyond 6 weeks to 8 or 7 weeks, although at the moment the ability to do so would depend greatly on the number of weeks that the Focus on Youth program will provide us with students in the future.