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Schools

Camp Wildcat Has No Cold Showers, but a Taste of Tradition

Sixth-Grade Camp is gone, but that hasn't stopped La Mesa Middle School from finding a way to share the experience.

Budget cuts may have ended the 65-year-old tradition of for most students in the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District, but they haven’t stopped La Mesa Middle School from putting on its own version.

“[O]ur school has created Camp Wildcat for our children,” said Principal Beth Thomas. “I think we’re the only middle school doing it. Our teachers have created a curriculum and camp experience for all of our sixth-grade students to complete.”

Much like the original sixth-grade adventure, Camp Wildcat features hiking, astronomy lessons, S’mores and camp songs.

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The difference? Camp Wildcat is an on-campus day program, a cost savings to parents and the school. It also offers a reprieve to students.

“[There are] no overnights and no cold showers,” Thomas said, “but we think they’ll have a great time in spite of it!”

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A collaborative effort between several teachers at La Mesa Middle, Thomas says the program was designed by sixth-grade teachers Samantha Webster and Tracy Flanagan. Teachers Lori Powell and Richard Smith scoped out Louis Stelzer County Park in Lakeside for the required training and to plan hiking trails.

During Sixth-Grade Camp’s six decades of operation, an average of 900 children from La Mesa-Spring Valley schools attended Camp Cuyamaca and Camp Fox (merged in 2009) each year. Some 325 students make up the sixth grade at La Mesa Middle, one of the city’s two middle schools (but this fall changing to junior highs).

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