Warning: Anthony Bowen YMCA Camp

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

This has NOT been our experience at the Ayrlawn YMCA camps. College students + full-time / full-year adult employees appear to be the norm.
Pricing around $275/week.

The difference is people in Bethesda wouldn't tolerate the Bowen situation for a hot minute.

[Anonymous]

Agree, no kids should.be abused, ever;

Also, YMCA camps are cheap compared to everything else out there (only thing I've found cheaper were county camps);

HS kids do not have the same maturity as an adult to handle stressful situations. I don't care how much training you give. Sure, maybe an outlier here or there, but over all, it is what it is for a reason. A hot, tired, high school kid will behave differently than a hot tired college kid who will behave differently than a hot tired person in their late 20s, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

This has NOT been our experience at the Ayrlawn YMCA camps. College students + full-time / full-year adult employees appear to be the norm.
Pricing around $275/week.

That is not cheap for large group care. I don't care how many camps in the area can charge more.

It's not. It was one of the more expensive camps our DC did this summer. Some of the sports camps he attended, which were done by high-end private sports providers, were $250.
FWIW, it was a good camp and (most) of the counselors were great. At YBCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

This has NOT been our experience at the Ayrlawn YMCA camps. College students + full-time / full-year adult employees appear to be the norm.
Pricing around $275/week.

The difference is people in Bethesda wouldn't tolerate the Bowen situation for a hot minute.

+1
The ones DC has had are all college kids at good colleges. We know some of them from the neighborhood and they were all top students in HS. The worst are the county, MC Rec camps. I have never met lazier people in my life and they weren't just lazy, they were downright mean to the kids. I even saw one of them mock a child with special needs.

[Anonymous]

FWIW, I had a bad experience at Bowen last summer, although perhaps not nearly so bad as you. my kid came home in tears everyday, seemed to have unspecified trouble with other kids being mean, and I had trouble tracking down adults to talk to about it. I pulled her after a few days and figured maybe she was just too young for that level of chaos. and while the counselors seemed VERY young, I was just as disconcerted by the apparent disorganization and unavailability of the adults running the camp.

[Anonymous]

I've heard others say that they pulled their children out due to the lack of supervision. I find it particularly troubling considering the swim component.

How awful -- thank you for sharing your story.

[Anonymous]

Awful for you!

We pulled out of an aftercare program due to an incident (revealed to be more.) Very distressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Awful for you!

We pulled out of an aftercare program due to an incident (revealed to be more.) Very distressing.

To be clear- out of an Anthony Bowen school based aftercare program.

[ymca]

The YMCA is taking your complaint extremely seriously and making the appropriate corrections. The YMCA is conducting an investigation and responding immediately. The Y apologizes for this experience and hope we will be able to serve your family in the future. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

ymca wrote:The YMCA is taking your complaint extremely seriously and making the appropriate corrections. The YMCA is conducting an investigation and responding immediately. The Y apologizes for this experience and hope we will be able to serve your family in the future. Thank you.

I hope you responded much faster and with more specificity to the parent's email.

[Anonymous]

I would have led with the inappropriate touching and cc’d CPS.

[Anonymous]

My son was also in this camp and this doesn’t surprise me at all. This camp was terribly organized and supervised. I was always relieved to find that my son was still accounted for at the end of the day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:YMCA camps are inexpensive BECAUSE they are staffed by HS kids
Sometimes they are terrific, most times not so much. You want well educated, well trained staff at your child's camp? You have to pay for that.

+1. Our child has been at YMCA Arylawn in Bethesda for the majority of the summer and our experience has been positive overall. It's not perfect, but she has been happy to return each week. So we think it's been a good value for the price.

This has NOT been our experience at the Ayrlawn YMCA camps. College students + full-time / full-year adult employees appear to be the norm.
Pricing around $275/week.

[Anonymous]

This doesn't surprise me. you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

[Anonymous]

Where do you report it? Thanks