Wednesday, June 14, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
15
Foundation provides outdoor school opportunities in Sisters
zy Erin zorla
Correspondent
When Camp Tamarack
originally opened its doors
in 1935 it was designed as a
camp for girls to learn strong
leadership and outdoor skills.
Now today, 82 years later, it
has a new life with similar
ideals. Students, both boys
and girls, aged 8-13 from all
across Central Oregon are par-
ticipating in Outdoor School
and summer camps.
That new life didn’t come
easy. Five years ago, Camp
Tamarack was essentially
defunct. Through loss, the life
of Camp Tamarack has begun
again.
Seven years ago this sum-
mer, Charlie Anderson and his
family had suffered a terrible
loss — the loss of a brother
and son, Tyler Anderson.
Tyler, who loved the outdoors,
found his passion rock climb-
ing and mountaineering.
His family wanted to do
something to honor Tyler’s
memory. Together with
friends they began On Belay
TY, a foundation dedicated
to getting kids who normally
wouldn’t get the opportunity
to experience nature, outside.
In climbing terms, “on belay”
means “I’ve got you.”
“Tyler was a kid that
struggled to find where he
belonged until he took a trip
outdoors with his school,”
said Anderson. “When he dis-
covered the outdoors he found
his place — his passion. He
was lucky to find that hook
early in high school.”
After high school Tyler
spent part of his year doing
canopy tours in the U.S. and
the other part of the year as
a mountain guide in South
America. He loved the com-
munities he visited and their
culture as much as the experi-
ences outside.
“People would want to go
somewhere to climb, and he
would show them so much
more,” said Anderson. “(He
would) teach them about the
culture and the place.”
Tyler lost his life in a
mountaineering accident in
Peru in 2010. On Belay TY
also supports wilderness and
first-responder training in
Peru.
Anderson has been in Bend
for the last 11 years, where
he worked as an elementary
school teacher. For the first
few years of the foundation he
worked with a friend who also
taught school in Los Angeles.
They identified a small group
of at-risk students in 3rd and
4th grade and started the Tyler
Anderson Youth Camp. Those
students traveled to Bend with
the two teachers and spent
time camping and being sur-
rounded by nature.
After the first two years
of camping and renting small
homes for the students, the
instructors challenged them-
selves to think bigger. They
reached out to the then-essen-
tially defunct Camp Tamarack
and asked if they could rent
the camp for a week — then
one thing lead to another and
the foundation ended up pur-
chasing the camp.
Anderson remembers try-
ing to think of all the things
the camp could become.
“I asked myself, what
could this camp be?” he said.
“I remember being a parent
chaperone to outdoor school
for my kids and what a posi-
tive impact that had on my
kids and their classmates in
5th grade and thought —
could we bring outdoor school
to more schools in Central
Oregon?”
That did it. The vision for
Camp Tamarack’s new life
began — to bring outdoor
school and overnight summer
camps back to Central Oregon
and have them be afford-
able for as many families as
possible.
Four years ago, the first
season Camp Tamarack hosted
We’re Committed
To Your Family’s
Dental Health!
Summer is a
great time to
schedule your
children’s dental
appointments.
Ben Crockett, D.D.S.
p 541-549-9486 f 541-549-9110
410 E. Cascade Ave. • P.O. Box 1027 • Sisters, Oregon 97759
Hours: Mon., 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Tues.-Wed., 8 a.m.-4 p.m.; Thurs., 7 a.m.-3 p.m.
PHOTO BY TIFFANY TISDEL
Sidterd Middle School 5th-grade Outdoor School at Camp Tamarack.
Outdoor School, only 26 per-
cent of Central Oregon 5th- or
6th-graders participated in
Outdoor School. This year, 98
percent of Central Oregon stu-
dents of the Outdoor School
age participated — 32 of the
34 eligible schools did so at
Camp Tamarack.
“In the 15 weeks of
Outdoor School we saw just
over 2,200 students this sea-
son,” said Anderson.
They also have seven ses-
sions of summer camp for
ages 8-13 and anticipate see-
ing over 750 campers. Camp
Tamarack has a session spe-
cifically set up for Type I
Diabetics. This special camp
Spreading of the
Ashes Service
for
allows for students who have
Type I Diabetes to have a tra-
ditional camp experience.
“Each participant can bring
a friend and we have volun-
teer nurses on staff from St.
Charles throughout the week,”
says Anderson.
All camp attendees partici-
pate in ceramics, print-mak-
ing, adventure team activities,
pickleball, canoeing, paddle-
boarding, swimming, orien-
teering, cooking, sewing and
much more.
Camp Tamarack offers
a high school mentorship
program. The camp hosts
approximately 350 high
school students from Central
Oregon schools as Outdoor
School High School Leaders.
Those students receive train-
ing, work with two different
sessions of Outdoor School
during one week of the school
year. Each mentor receives
high school elective credits
as well as potential college
credit through Central Oregon
Community College.
Last year Oregon voters
overwhelmingly approved
Measure 99, which ensured
the use of Lottery dollars to
send 5th- or 6th-grade stu-
dents from every district to
Outdoor School.
See CAMP on page 23
Come back from your vacation
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L EN
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to be held
June 24 at 2 PM
For information
call Andy Sichler
at 541-549-5382.
HOPE’s Medical Director Jessica Slaughter at 31 (left) and 43 years young (right)
HOPE Aesthetics & Wellness
www.HopeWellnessSisters.com | 541-588-6503
Family owned r
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THE
GALLERY
RESTAURANT AND BAR
Bring Dad in for some Trout
and Eggs this Fa ther’s Day!
Breakfast & lunch 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Full-service dining in the bar
nightly until 10 p.m. (21 & over)
171 W. Cascade Ave., Sisters
541-549-2631
SOUP OF THE DAY
June 14th - June 20th
Wed ..............Chicken Tortellini Sat.............
....... Jalapeño Potato
Thurs ..........Split Pea with Ham Sun .........
........... Vegetable Beef
Fri ..Clam Chowder & Vegetable Mon .........
..... Cream of Spinach
Tues ...............Beefy Mushroom