Tag Archives: Camp Qwanoes

Activities, Camp Staff, Events, Q-Town & Music, Summer Camp

Go Canada Go!

An Exciting, Action-Packed Week

Today, Juniors #2 is coming to an end and it has been an exciting, action-packed week.

Each day has included things like… daring to go off the Screamer, aiming for the target in archery, racing RC cars at the Qwanoes RC Speedway, playing with new friends in the Aqua-Park, creating something in Artrageous Crafts, trying out fun challenges at the Surf-O-Rama carnival, sliding down our giant wet and slippery slide called “Big Blue,” hanging out with caring counselors and staff, singing with our band Quixotic in Q-Town, listening to the week’s speaker Mark Batten (from Calvary Christian Church in Surrey), and so much more.

See photos of Juniors #2 here.

We look forward to welcoming our Jr. High #4 campers on Sunday, as well as having our CIT #2 (Counselor-In-Training) program begin!

Camp Qwanoes Cheering For Canada

On our camp picture day this week, we decided to send a huge message of support to former Qwanoes camper Emily Zurrer (on the Canadian women’s soccer team) and the entire Canadian Olympic team in London. Hundreds of campers and staff gathered on the grass in front of Club Coco. We got out our giant Canada flag, put on some Canada clothing, and went a bit crazy cheering for Canada. Who knows? Maybe a future Olympian is in this group of 8 to 11 year-old campers!

An International Olympics Celebration At Qwanoes

What do the Olympics and Qwanoes have in common? Both bring people from many different countries together! After cheering for Canada, everyone at Juniors #2 had the chance to watch as staff and campers from different countries got up in front of the group and sent messages of support to their own Olympic teams. It is very exciting to see how Qwanoes staff come from so many different backgrounds and parts of the world and unite together for the purpose of loving kids to life!

Staff from Great Britain

Countries represented on our staff team this summer include New Zealand, Australia, Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, France, Switzerland, Brazil, Colombia, the United States, and of course Canada.

Hear what some of our international staff have to say about being at Qwanoes…

“It doesn’t matter where we are from… we are one big family… it’s good to be here.” – Sabrina from Brazil

“I’m a ‘go big or go home’ kind of guy which is why I have come to Qwanoes for 7 years and I’m not stopping!”– Byron from USA

Staff from Brazil

“There is nothing quite like this in Scotland… It’s so cool to get to know people from all over the world. Canadians are very enthusiastic.” – Fiona from Scotland

“Always wanted to do summer camp! And we don’t have camps like Qwanoes in Australia. We do a lot more here at Qwanoes than camps back home. We make the experience the best ever for kids so that they will never forget! With lots of purpose every week. We put maple syrup on everything! Drive on the wrong side of the road! The Qwanoes yellow buses are amazing. Canadians are super friendly and genuine.” – Steph from Australia

Our Aussie & Kiwi staff having some fun!

“Love the people, they are amazing…”– Miles from New Zealand

“I love the landscape here, the nature, forest, the ocean, people are so friendly…” – Christophe from France

Click the play button below to see and hear international staff and campers cheer for their countries!

~ Written by Julie Bayley (Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director)

 

 

Activities, Camp Staff, Events, Leadership Training, Q-Town & Music, Summer Camp

Living It Up Each Day

So much is going on at Qwanoes every day right now! It is hard to capture with words just how amazing it is to be part of what happens each week in the summer at Qwanoes. In the words of Cintia Rojo, a staff member from Brazil, “This week at Qwanoes… truly an AWESOME time.”

Even the Squirrel got out for the big staff beach party! He loved the new paddle surfing activity!

Staff Development Day

Between the end of Juniors #1 and the start of Jr. High #3, we had a special day set aside called our Staff Development Day. This day included a sleep-in, some more staff training, a huge beach party and supper at Qwanoes Beach, Q-Town, and an extra-special mug-up. This was a great day to re-group and re-charge for all that is still ahead this summer!

The big show at Qwanoes Starwood night!

Jr. High #3 Happening Right Now!

Right now just as the opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympics is about to take place in London, a huge relay called the “Qwantathalon”  is taking place at Qwanoes! Games and events, led by Stevie G and the All-Star events team, are always a big part of a week at Qwanoes. Jr. High #3 has featured events like “To The Extreme,” our night game “Cobra Conquest,” “Planet Starwood,” and much more. Last night, we had the “Surf-O-Rama” concert along with the very popular Kick-Flip Café. And there’s still more to come!  See photos of the week so far.

Now hands are even cleaner at Qwanoes! 24 new outdoor sinks!

New Hand-Washing Station 

All of this week, we’ve been enjoying our brand-new hand washing station with 24 sinks! This station is right by the Sky Ridge Lodge where we eat our meals. Last week during Juniors #1, this giant hand washing station was built and put into action by the last day of the camp. Now washing hands before meals is easier than ever!

Living It Up At Q-Town Tonight

Q-Town is definitely one of the big highlights of a day at Qwanoes. Campers and staff love singing along with our music team Quixotic and all summer long Q-Town has been filled with tons of energy. Catch a small taste of the action during Juniors #1 and hear part of the new Q-Town song, “Q-Town Tonight”!

See Living It Up At Q-Town Tonight…

 

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

Activities, Events, Q-Town & Music, Summer Camp

On A Qwanoes Day

Juniors #1 Happening Now!

Camper soaring at the Qwanoes Skate Park!

Our third camp of the summer, Juniors #1, is on right now! We’ve just passed the halfway point in the week. Each morning, campers have been taking part in Q-Town at the fireside and activities like RC Speedway, Artrageous Crafts, Climbing Tower, Trapeze Jump, Skate Park, and more. In the afternoons, campers have been getting to try out a huge variety of activities at Qwanoes Beach and on the land.

After supper, campers have been enjoying games and events like Castle Conquest and tonight after a barbeque supper, the first Surf-O-Rama Carnival of the summer camp season will be happening! At this giant beach-theme party, campers will have the chance to test their surfin’ skills on the Boogie Board Bonanza, try many other fun challenges, go on fun inflatables like the Amazing Race that are coming in just for the carnival, enjoy some cotton candy or popcorn, and more!

Dancing along with the Quixotic band in Q-Town!

After the evening games and events, everybody gathers together in Q-Town which features singing along with Russ the “Squirrel” and our music team Quixotic, seeing video highlights of the day’s activities and maybe a “Captain Q” video, and listening to the speaker for the week Jonathan Headley. Jonathan has been a speaker at Qwanoes for many years and is here this week with his entire family! See more about Jonathan here. The energy in Q-Town has been unbelievable this week!

Heading up into one of our treehouses! Spending the night in the trees way, way up in the air is quite the adventure!

After Q-Town, sometimes there is a fireside with some crazy skits and more singing… and then it’s off to the cabins for bedtime! Cabins who get the highest cabin cleanup scores of the day get to sleep in our treehouses for one night. A camper just came up to me so over-the-top excited that her cabin won cabin cleanup today and they are going to the treehouses tonight!

As all the fun is happening, campers are learning what it truly means to “Live It Up” in their lives, not just here at camp but wherever they go. So excited that we still have one and a half more days to go of Juniors #1!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

 

Activities, Leadership Training, Q-Town & Music, Summer Camp

Sun Shining So Bright

Camper enjoying the many different features of our floating Aqua-Park!

1st Camps of Summer Underway!

What a beautiful day at Qwanoes with the sun shining so bright! You know it’s summer when at 10 a.m. it is 23 degrees out! We are right in the middle of Junior High #2 and our summer camp season is well underway. This year’s summer theme is “LIVE IT UP” and boy oh boy, that is happening all over Qwanoes this week. Campers will be at the beach, swinging from trees, having cabin discussion time, in Q-Town, in the skatepark, playing All Star Games, all over in Club Coco, and the list could go on and on!

In Q-Town last night we rocked it out with Russ the “Squirrel” and Quixotic singing a lot of brand-new songs for summer 2012. Following that we listened to our speaker Randy Carter. Randy is a great speaker – full of stories – and we laughed together a lot! Not only are Randy’s life stories funny, they really help get the point across about what it means to LIVE IT UP in our day-to-day life.

Group of girl campers with their counselor Beth from Northern Ireland!

So what’s happening right now at camp!!?? It’s cabin picture and video time here at Qwanoes. I was just out on the main field and saw all the campers and counselors spread out in their cabin groups looking their “campy” best!

I ran into a group of girl campers hanging out in the shade and asked them what they are looking forward to this afternoon… and this is what I heard back as they yelled over each other: “Swimming! Tubing! Night game! Rocket Plus! Lunch!” Sounds like a whole lot of fun to me. Their counselor’s name is Beth and she is here all the way from Northern Ireland. I asked the girls what they like about their counselor and they drew in close to Beth saying, “She is super nice, so sweet, super chill, and we are going to visit her in Northern Ireland!” Beth replied back, “Ah, you guys are the best!”

Here go our CIT's for their hike to "the Point"! Then they slept out under the stars next to the ocean. (Counselor In Training Program)

We still have some room in some of our summer camps and the Counselor In Training program! Check it out online.

All Star games coming up next and then lunch! And then time for activities all over the camp! Love summer camp!

 

Giant Canada Day Party Last Week!

By the way, last week at Jr. High #1, we had SO much fun living it up at our giant Canada Day party! Hundreds of Jr. High campers and staff (from Canada & many other countries) got together to celebrate Canada’s birthday with music blasting from the qrok Tower, Ice Cream Island, Shave Ice Palace, eating cake, and seeing the sky light up! To catch a glimpse of this, see our “Giant Canada Day Party At Camp Qwanoes” video:

 

~ Written by Jay Kennedy, Qwanoes’ Assistant Director

 

 

Activities, Camp Staff, Events, Leadership Training, Summer Camp

Club Coco is being invaded!

Summer staff team 2012 unites

New staff have been arriving every day over the last two months, but now TODAY is the biggest day with new arrivals almost every minute! Staff Training starts today and staff from far and wide are descending on Qwanoes to prepare for an amazing summer together! One week left until Junior High #1 and then soon campers will come rolling into camp in cars and buses! Fireworks will be going off, the qrok tower will be pumping out the tunes and summer 2012 will underway!

Who is going to get the Skee Ball high score this summer? Maybe you!!

Club Coco is being invaded with brand-new games for Summer 2012

Summer staff couldn’t wait to try out the new games in Club Coco! Earlier this year the Giant Connect Four joined popular games like Battle Top Arena already in Club Coco – and now Club Coco just got three brand-new games for summer 2012! That’s right – four new games to try out just as soon as you arrive!

Bumper Pool – Fresh out of the box (literally)… Defend or attack?! That’s the big question when playing this game. Who will be first to score all their balls and be declared the winner??? Campers this summer will love this new game! It’s Carpetball with a twist!

Take a rest in style with the Club Coco giant bean-bag chairs!

Skee Ball – Step on up and try your skills at another new game. It’s like bowling mixed it in with a little target practice! Challenge your friends all week long and see who gets the high score for the week!

Massive bean-bag chairs – You will never see a pillow any bigger than this! Need a break? How about settling back in one of our three giant bean-bag chairs! There is always plenty of room to fit one more!

Giant Connect Four – New to summer 2012! It has been a big hit all spring and now it’s time for our summer campers to try it out for the very first time.


Try Bumper Pool - this awesome new twist to carpetball! Defend or attack, what are you going to do??

 

While in Club Coco this summer be sure to try an old-fashioned milkshake, tasty smoothie, or another treat from the Coco-Hut… come and enjoy!

~ Written by Jay Kennedy (Qwanoes’ Assistant Director)

 

 

Events, Youth Retreats

Early Spring Happenings

What a fun week it has been here at Qwanoes!

Trying out the new Giant Connect 4 in Club Coco!

This past weekend, about 125 kids ages 8 to 11 were at our Spring Juniors Retreat. The weekend was filled with many highlights including…

• the introduction of Qwanoes’ brand-new Giant Connect 4

• a birthday celebration on Saturday at supper for our Music & Media Coordinator Russ Smith (a.k.a. The Squirrel)

See Stevie G bringing out birthday cake to Russ!

• challenge course, archery, skateboarding, ricochet,  an evening pool party & more activities and events

Getting ready to go in the Challenge Course on Saturday!

• hearing from our speaker for the weekend Paul Olson of Burnett Fellowship Church in Maple Ridge

• the “Unstoppable” theme and much more

It was great to have kids back at camp and we are filled with anticipation for what lies ahead this summer!

All ages are part of what’s happening at Qwanoes!

One day there were Junior-age kids at camp – the next day we held our annual Senior’s Luncheon. On Monday, we welcomed over 100 seniors representing 10 different churches from up and down the Island. Scott Bayley, Qwanoes’ Executive Director, spoke to the seniors as well as Lindsay Anderson, a pastor from Saanich Baptist Church. The seniors enjoyed music by a chorale from Parksville Baptist Church and a “superb” meal provided by Qwanoes’ food services team.

Now as we prepare to go into the Easter long weekend, we want to say Happy Easter to everyone!  After celebrating Easter, we look forward to next big event that will be happening at Qwanoes… the Kaléo program graduation!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

Social Media, Youth Retreats

A Taste Of Summer

As summer is getting closer we’re enjoying more hours of sunlight in each day, it’s getting warmer, the scent of spring-time is in the air, the birds are chirping, trees are budding, and flowers are appearing… Spring is officially here! Pretty soon we’ll be having newborn fawns appearing again around Qwanoes – a rare but beautiful sight!

Spring Juniors Retreat Is Here!

Having fun together at Qwanoes!

Here at Qwanoes tonight, we can’t wait to welcome about 125 campers to our Juniors Retreat! Along with the staff already at camp, leaders are coming from all over and all of our students in the Kaléo program will be involved in running the retreat! Whether campers are coming for the very first time, or have been to a retreat or camp in the summer before, we are so excited that they will be part of this action-packed weekend.

Everything’s ready to go from the rooms, the food, activities, events, music, and everything else that makes a visit to Qwanoes so special. It may not be summer yet, but we look forward to experiencing a small taste of summer together this weekend!

Qwanoes On Facebook

The new cover photo on Qwanoes' official Facebook page!

If you haven’t done so already, we’d like to invite everyone on Facebook to ‘like’ Camp Qwanoes’ official Facebook page. Here you’ll find frequent updates including inspiring content, thoughts and follow-up, fun stuff, questions, and the latest happenings at Qwanoes. Looking forward to you joining us and the – as of today – over 1,900 others on our official page!!

The new cover photo on the Staff-Alumni account!

Qwanoes also has a Staff-Alumni Facebook account that is meant for people who are or have previously been Qwanoes staff members in any capacity. If you are staff-alumni, you can receive updates specifically relevant to you here, but we’d also love for you to be part of the official Qwanoes Facebook page that includes campers and everyone.

Thanks to everyone who has joined us on Facebook so far!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director

 

 

Camp Staff, Summer Camp

Share Life Like No Other This Summer!

Are you 15 or turning 15 this year? Have you looked forward for years to when you will be old enough to serve on staff at Qwanoes?

You’re invited to join the team!

Qwanoes invites those who are 15 (or who will be 15 by Dec. 31, 2012) to apply for one special week of  Operations Support Crew and serve in a vital food services role (dishwashing, dining room set- up, etc). Leaders will offer you spiritual discipleship and there will be opportunities to assist in the camp program.

Reach for more this summer!

If you’re coming on staff as a 15 year-old, you will be part of the first weekend of Staff Training in late June. During this weekend, you’ll learn more about the heart of Qwanoes and what it means to be part of the staff team. You can choose the week in the summer you’d like to join us on staff except for Youth Camp (note that some weeks may fill so please apply soon). See Staff Opportunity For 15 Year-Olds for more info.

Whether you’ve been a camper before or not, see what camp ministry is all about and enjoy the friendship and support of other staff! You’ll be encouraged and challenged to grow closer to God and as the leader God has called you to be. Discover more about living and sharing life like no other this summer and put your faith into action!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes’ Associate Program Director.

 

 

Q-Town & Music

All-Night Video Shoot

The secret’s out! Q-Town was pumping out some tunes in an all-nighter this week!

One year it was a road trip to Alberta, the next year Stevie-G and Russ were in a race to Qwanoes from Vancouver – and this year the LIVE IT UP music video is yet another big surprise! There is so much to tell you, but what should I share first?? Well I was so curious about the tunes coming out of Q-Town in the middle of the night that I went out there myself to check it all out. I thought that maybe the Squirrel was missing summer so much that he was sleep-walking out at Q-Town, but he wasn’t :)…

Russ and Quixotic in Q-Town at the video shoot for the new "LIVE IT UP" music video.

The first thing I saw was the Quixotic band jammin’ away, and they sounded awesome! Russ Smith (aka the Squirrel) had this to say: “We’re at it again putting our new song LIVE IT UP on the big screen! This year it’s going to be an all-night video shoot and jam session! We are going the extra mile for our campers so the video is spectacular! So far it’s looking really good and we are just getting started!”

It was so cool to see all the lights and smoke and… ok I better stop there to leave some things a surprise! One thing for sure is that the new LIVE IT UP music video is going to be awesome! If you haven’t heard the theme song yet, you can listen to it online and see some sights and sounds of summer too. I love the start the best!

Click on the picture to see full update!

We look forward to welcoming thousands of kids to camp this summer and an email went out this week to give the invitation to as many people as possible! You can use this email invitation as a great way to invite your friends to camp. It is easy to share by “liking” it on Facebook, tweeting it to your friends, or emailing it. You’ll also find quick, fun links on this email to the LIVE IT UP full-length and mini slideshows, plus the new AT LAST I’M HOME music video.

Looking forward to when Q-Town is filled with all of you once again!!

~ Written by Jay Kennedy, Qwanoes’ Assistant Director.

 

 

 

Events, Leadership Training

An Epic Battle

An extraordinary event happened last week in Pacific Woods Lodge! Find out more…

Pacific Woods Lodge A Battleground?!

Welcome to Pacific Woods Lodge!

Ever wondered what life is like living at Camp Qwanoes? Sometimes life is quite out of the ordinary! Last week, Pacific Woods Lodge was transformed into a battlefield, using couches as barriers and stairwells as tactical positions. Even the visiting professor from Briercrest College, teaching our students in the Kaléo program, got involved! See what happened in all the crazy photos on A Day In The Life At Camp Qwanoes.

LiftOff, Skiing & Snowboarding!

This past Friday and Saturday, Qwanoes partnered once again with churches on Vancouver Island for LiftOff… an adventure that included music, Qwanoes’ 2012 slideshow, a night game on the streets of Campbell River, skiing and snowboarding at Mt. Washington, and more! We invite you to take a look at the Live It Up 2012 Mini-Slideshow for yourself!

Be Trained As A Leader In Summer’s Most Exciting Place

Are you trying to figure out what to do this summer? Do you love the outdoors and all the high-energy activities that are part of camp? Do you want to learn, interact with others, reach out to kids, and be challenged to grow spiritually and personally?

The Counselor-In-Training (CIT) Program at Qwanoes is a high-quality, entry-level leadership training program that introduces high school students to living and sharing life like no other in Christ. You will develop skills in leadership and ministry that will be valuable for the rest of your life!

In the words of  a CIT graduate: “”I just have to say that CIT was the most amazing and life-changing experience of my entire life.”

Experience solid training, spiritual growth, lifelong friendships and great times! And what better setting to get this training than camp—summer’s most exciting place!

~ Written by Julie Bayley, Qwanoes Associate Program Director