Youth Conservation Camps: Middle School Camp 2025

We kicked off our 4th annual WI Land+Water Middle School Conservation Camp on June 15-18 at Upham Woods Outdoor Learning Center in Wisconsin Dells, by welcoming campers from across the state.

Middle school participants learned species identification, built survival shelters, and competed in fire-starting challenges while developing confidence and independence. 

Check out what happens at camp with campers who journaled about the experience, starting with Devyn Seidl!

Hello, my name is Devyn Seidl and I am going to be a seventh grader at Hayward Middle School. Some of the things I like to do are hunt, have campfires with my family, dance, and play softball.

I wanted to go to camp so I could learn new things like how to canoe, sadly I did not get to do that because of high water and strong currents. I did get to learn many fun things though. For example, one of my favorite things I learned was how to build a survival fire after it rained with only damp things and flint & steel. I had a great learning experience where they taught us about the effects of phosphorus in the water. If there is too much of it, the phosphorus will harm our waters, but little of it doesn't do anything bad. They showed us a diagram of real places and what would happen if the debris, chemicals, or phosphorus got into the water. Another thing I really enjoyed was building the shelters with my new friends. My favorite part overall was the campfires that we had where we got to sing, play in skits, and eat s'mores and pudgy pies. It was fun and we got to hang out with people from all over Wisconsin. I also enjoyed the night games, for hours we played ghost in the graveyard with the whole camp, even some of the counselors joined in. We got to run around and hide until the whistle was blown and then we had to try and make it to the safe spot without getting tagged. We also did archery, I even got a bullseye which was very exciting.

I would definitely recommend going to camp to all of my friends and other people in my school. I really want to go again next year and have another fun experience. I had a great time at camp and all the adults were very kind. Thank you SCOPE for paying for me to go. Without your generosity I would have never been able to go to this wonderful camp and meet some wonderful people.

Read about camp through the perspective of camper Delaney Darton.

DNR Conservation Warden Derek Hansen talked to us about his job and showed us his truck which had a lot of extra buttons and very loud sirens. He also showed us the items in his vest, like guns and tasers. His talk was one of my favorite parts of camp. We were able to ask him questions afterwards. We ended the day with a campfire and yummy s’mores. We also sang some songs and did some funny skits. 

The next day was very busy. We did groundwater research in the morning. We collected samples of groundwater and then did pH tests. Next, we hiked North Shore Trail. It was long and rocky. On that trail we got to see lots of amazing sandstone structures and lots of plants and wildlife. Our hike was also a favorite part of camp for me. 

After lunch, we had another outdoor skills activity which was outdoor survival. We learned how to logically think in a life or death situation in the wild. We made our own fires with only sparks, things we found in nature, and cotton balls. I was surprised at how quickly our small group was able to successfully start our fire. 

Next up, hear from sixth grader Liesel Suralski.

My name is Liesel Suralski and I will be in 6th grade this fall at Winter School District. I went to the Middle School Land and Water Conservation Camp in June and had a lot of fun.  

I enjoyed the water carnaval the most. It was fun because we got to do all sorts of water related things without having to pass or take the swim test!  

I also really liked the hike and being able to go up and see the cave. I took a lot of pictures of the bluffs and the water. Below I put my favorite picture of my whole trip. It was so beautiful. 

The food was amazing. The counselors were also very nice and they made us feel safe and like we were at home even far away from home. I was a little homesick the first time, but my new friends and my counselors really helped me. 

I had a very nice time and will definitely be coming back! 

Lastly, Shunya Hulbert shares fun and valuable memories.

My name is Shunya Hulbert, and I’m a 12-year-old student who enjoys spending time outdoors. I came to this camp to learn about nature and to make new friends.  

My favorite memory while I was at camp was being able to play and spend time with my friends. Another favorite memory was learning new details about animals when we went to the research center to see and learn about reptiles. I tried to spend as much time as possible with the friends that I made during camp. While we were at the cabin, I played card games or talked to my friends when we were in the cabin. If we did not want to play card games while we were in the cabin we talked about what we did at home or what we do for our free time at home. I learned how to identify multiple different species of trees because we did a tree ID. I learned how to identify white pines, red pines, and a couple more of tree species. I participated in card games while we were at the cabin and while we were with the whole camp I participated in the games we did as a whole camp. What I enjoyed at camp the most was being able to spend time or being able to play with my friends when I could. I also enjoyed watching the SKITS at the fireplace. The SKITS were fun and fun to watch with a friend and if you participated in the SKITS, you were able to interact with new people and could make new friends. I would tell others that this is a very fun camp, and you are able to make many new friends and even if you did not make any friends, you can still have a fun experience while you are there. I would also tell others that the activities that we did there were fun and fun to watch. Thank you for this opportunity, this was a wonderful experience.

Please like our WI Land+Water Youth Education Facebook page where you can view more camp photos!