Welcome to camp deer run
overview
Camp Deer Run was founded in 1995 for the purpose of providing programs directed at the social development and personal growth of young people of metropolitan New York City, the southern Hudson Valley region and beyond. Deer Run is located in the foothills of the Catskill and Shawnagunk Mountains approximately 1¾ hours from New York City. The ecology of the camp is unusually varied, offering access to 110 beautiful acres of woodlands, meadows, marshes and streams that make the camp an ideal environmental laboratory.
Our Service Philosophy
Our service philosophy is unique in that we do not offer “cookie-cutter” programs, but instead tailor our programming to suit the objectives and needs of each client organization, regardless whether the client is visiting Deer Run for as little as a day or for as long as a month or more.
our Programs
Experiential Education is the core methodology upon which our Adventure Education and Environmental Programs are built. In this approach participants are actively engaged by a facilitator in cooperating, creative thinking, decision-making, problem solving, and assuming responsibility for the outcome. Afterward a focused reflection is conducted in order to identify, clarify and imprint learned values and concepts. Our Adventure Education Program includes an extensive high and low ropes challenge course that focuses on such issues as teamwork, self-esteem, leadership, trust, decision-making and conflict-resolution. The varied ecology of Camp Deer Run makes it an ideal laboratory for our Environmental Education program, which teaches us about the natural world, our place in it and our responsibility for its health. In addition, the camp offers many traditional recreational choices, as well as a variety of personal development workshops. We customize our programming to meet the individual goals of each client, and we would welcome the opportunity to discuss your specific needs with you.
The Extraordinary Benefits of Experiences in Nature
One of the most beneficial aspects of the Deer Run experience is the contact with nature that the camp affords all young people who come there. The evidence is overwhelming that exposure to the natural world provides very important developmental benefits for children. A large body of research now documents conclusively that experiences in nature benefit young people socially, psychologically, cognitively and spiritually.
Richard Louv, in his acclaimed book, “Last Child in the Woods” states,
