Even Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the phone had the right idea when he said to a camp director, visiting him in South Carolina, “It may surprise you but I congratulate you on the fact you have no telephone”. Clearly Bell's vision of a healthy camp included a chance for people to free themselves from electronic technology and remove themselves from the outside world.

At Manitou, our goals are to have children be healthy; physically, emotionally and spiritually. Each camper should make enduring friendships, develop independence, behave unselfishly, appreciate the natural environment , learn new skills in arts, sports and outdoor adventure, gain a sense of self worth and community responsibility while developing self confidence and self esteem.

That is a lot to accomplish for any person and our best way to accomplish this for your son and daughter is first to lead by example, initiate challenging and rewarding group activities, encouraging camp and cabin activities that teach cooperation and leadership skills and by nurturing supportive relationships between campers and among campers and staff. We call our mission “fun, friends and fulfillment for each and every camper and we ask you to read our camp philosophy page for more information.

Consistent with our goals of promoting self-reliance and new social connections we limit the use of electronic technology at Manitou. Campers are not permitted to bring electronic devices of any sort,(except for Discmans, MP3 players), use phones or computers.

If we are to accomplish our goals for your child, in the long run your son or daughter is far better off freeing themselves from reliance on that connection.

If there is any significant issue regarding your child we will contact you. For more information on our communication policy please refer to Camp Communication issues http://www.manitoucamp.com/campcommunication.htm on our web site.