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1ST COUPLE WEEKS OF CAMP: SUCCESS!
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"I like how there are so many kinds of personalities. And also the staff at Amplify are really nice. For example if you need someone to talk to they will ALWAYS BE THERE FOR YOU. Also the food there is AMAZINGGGGG" —2023 middle school sleep away camper
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We're 2 weeks into AMPLIFY SLEEP AWAY + DAY CAMP, and whoooaaa, Nelly! It's been so amazing 🤩 Hard as it is to pick just a couple of our favorite things to highlight, we dug deep and narrowed it down just for you!
THE RETURN OF DAY CAMP: SUCCESS!
Day camp is back and better than ever, now baked into our award-winning sleep away camp model, schedule, and location. Aspects like intentional bonding exercises, FREE daily roundtrip shuttle out of Ventura + Santa Barbara, included lunch, and much more have made the [re]launch of AMPLIFY DAY CAMP a whopping success 🎉 "What I liked most about camp as a DAY CAMPER is how I can choose my electives. It is fun to try new things that were not in our immersive!"
MUSIC VIDEO MAKING ELECTIVE: SUCCESS!
Our future Ava DuVernay's, Greta Gerwig's, and Chloé Zhao's have been workin' hard on making their own music videos! As part of the elective, campers are learning how to analyze different music videos and styles, write their own script, storyboard their ideas, and form their own production group to FILM THEIR VISION, each sharing roles between camera, lighting, sound, acting, and directing. Session 1 campers made this video to No Doubt's "Just a Girl," which was a great success at the final showcase! For session 2, we're making a music video to our very own bass instructor Rachel's song "Blood in the Water"!! 🎬 "We got to learn a lot about the process of filming and enjoyed being able to DIRECT OUR OWN IDEAS!"
NEW "ROCK BAND INTENSIVE" IMMERSIVE: SUCCESS!
This was our answer to previous campers' requests for more time in band practice, and they are loving it! Our creative multi-instrumentalist band coach takes more experienced camper musicians to the next level of songwriting, being a good bandmate, and independently improving instrument skills—complete with band practice twice a day! 🎶 “We all feel on the same level, and it’s a chance to LEVEL UP and work through things faster.”
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MEET THE CAMP SQUAD: LACEY, BELLA + PEN
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We're so excited about the team of ~40 all-around experts we've put together to teach, inspire, and care for our campers this summer at Amplify. So, of course we want to tell the world about them! Meet LACEY, who joins us this summer as HEALTH + WELLNESS COORDINATOR.
"I’ve been a huge fan of girls' camps since I was young myself during the '50s and '60s. I LOVE MUSIC and come from a large family of excellent rock musicians. I’ve been a community theater actor for over 25 years in upwards of 50 productions, including many musicals. I'm also a talented seamstress and spent 4 summers as the costume designer for my local children’s theater camp.
I pursued a career in nursing and worked in the medical profession for over 30 years before retiring in 2003. Since then I've traveled extensively while working in different seasonal positions around the country. I spend my free time hiking, camping, writing and sewing. I've always enjoyed working with youth and have 3 beautiful daughters of my own, as well as 3 amazing and talented granddaughters. I’m both thrilled and honored to be spending my summer surrounded by such an awesomely talented group and can't wait to spend even more time with the incredible youth this program supports and mentors."
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Meet BELLA, who joins us this summer as COUNSELOR + LIFEGUARD 🏊♀️
"All throughout middle school I was a competitive swimmer, but due to an injury, I stopped competing and switched to just lifeguarding and helping coach/teach at my neighborhood swim team. I'm currently studying theater production and design—and a little bit of ceramics!—at Hampshire College, though I don’t have the slightest clue as to what I'll be doing after I graduate... This is my first Summer at Amplify and I’m loving all these NEW EXPERIENCES and getting to know everyone!"
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Meet PEN, who's been an Amplify camper for years and finally joins us this summer as COUNSELOR 😎
"I was an LIT (Leader In Training) for the past 2 summers, and I loved every single minute of my time at Amplify. Though I usually play more woodwind instruments such as clarinet, bass clarinet and tenor saxophone, Amplify helped me expand my horizons to guitar and vocals. My main passion is photography, and going to this camp really helped me find that in myself. I chose the photography track last year (2022), which helped me through a really rough portion of my life. The way I was able to express my emotions and love for camp with my photos is inexplainable. The day my father brought up a sleep away camp in California I truly could not have known how much my life was going to change.
I can’t thank Amplify enough for giving me the chance to go on adventures that I couldn’t even dream of going on without them. Being from New York, Chicago was the furthest west I had been. You can’t guess the types of people that you are going to meet at camp. The relationships and FRIENDSHIPS MADE HERE ARE UNBREAKABLE and so unique. I have loved every single person I have met at camp. I would not have the friends that I have without camp, and I will forever cherish the memories made with these amazing people. I’m so excited to see where this organization takes me; the things I've learned will shape my life forever."
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AMPLIFY SECRET SAUCE: OUR UPLIFTING CAMP CULTURE
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Amplify is all about lifting each other up instead of putting each other down. For example, campers (and all program participants really—we have multiple year-round programs!) and staff share traditions of following up the ubiquitous apology for taking up space with “You rock!” We flip stereotypes upside down.
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We meet every single camper exactly where they are with dynamic classes, workshops, and activities led by compassionate, talented instructors and mentors. Whether a camper is a drummer who's never touched a full kit, a guitarist in their 5th year of shredding, a photographer ready to take their portfolio to the next level, or a "just for fun" vocalist who wants to work on her karaoke game... All Amplify campers will take on challenges that lead to success, surrounded by peers and mentors cheering them on.
Most folks spend a lifetime improving the way they treat themselves and the people and things around them. At Amplify, we strive to create and sustain an environment in which growth is prioritized. We're all capable of contributing positively to the camp culture!
Everyone at Amplify follows the golden rule: BE COOL. Be cool to others. Be cool to the stuff. Be cool to campus. Be cool to yourself. What does cool mean to us? Practice kindness, have fun, be a force of positive energy, talk to someone if you’re having a problem, and treat people and things with sensitivity, awareness, and kindness 💕
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FAMILY UPDATE: ZADIE PRETTY MUCH RUNS CAMP NOW
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Zadie (and all her siblings!) has participated in pretty much all our programs, including camp of course, since she was a sweet lil' baby. Surprise to no one, she's now a brilliant, hard-working, talented young adult, and over the last few years she's impressed us a crazy amount as program staff. This summer, we're so proud to see her slaying the day away as AM (MORNING) LEAD: a most important member of the camp leadership team 🏆
Empowering, nurturing, strengthening, and (in awesome cases like this) someday WORKING WITH our program participants means everything to us. Proof we're doing something right? Probably. Proof there's hope that this world will soon be run by the most compassionate, clever, bright, empathetic voices out there? Definitely.
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(In case you think we're biased about how incredible Zadie is, here's a quote from a few years back that always makes us tear up a bit: "One word: Zadie. I met Zadie when we were 8 years old at [Amplify] day camp. She moved away about 5 years ago, but we’ve been coming to sleep away camp together ever since. This past year we got to be a part of the Leaders in Training (LIT) program with a bunch of other amazing girls. I cannot even imagine what my life would be like without the love and support of my camp family. They are the nicest, most welcoming and fun bunch of people in the world.")
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PARTNER SHOUTOUT: BLUE SKY CENTER IN THE CUYAMA VALLEY
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Along with all-important Cuyama schools, BLUE SKY CENTER is the beautiful partner that makes our fully subsidized CUYAMA VALLEY TEACHING ARTIST RESIDENCY program possible. This nonprofit's mission is to strengthen rural communities within the Cuyama Valley by supporting entrepreneurs and building regional creative and economic resources.
Their work focuses on rural resilience, developing place-based initiatives that address persistent inequities in rural development while championing opportunities for sustained, deliberate economic empowerment (in partnership with residents and entrepreneurs). Blue Sky Center partners with artists and more to share space with community members and create opportunities to address some of the most vexing regional challenges.
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If you can see yourself living and working out of Blue Sky Center for a few weeks within the next year, WATCH THIS SPACE.
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TELL US (AND THE WORLD) WHAT YOU THINK—THERE COULD BE $500 IN IT FOR YOU
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Review us by December 31 and you could win $500!
It means the world to have passionate superstars like YOU in our family 🤗 To thank our biggest fans for helping the world find us and get to know us, we're giving $500 to one person who leaves us a Google, Upparent, Yelp, or GreatNonprofits review by the end of this year. If you do all 4, you'll get 4 chances to win!
Reviews can be about any aspect of us, whatever resonates with you: programming, staff, mission, events... Get creative!
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Thanks as ever to our MAJOR + MONTHLY SUPPORTERS. You keep the lights on...in both our facilities and our hearts 😉💡🔆
NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS • STATE OF CALIFORNIA • CALIFORNIA ARTS COUNCIL • SANTA BARBARA FOUNDATION • NORA MCNEELY + MICHAEL HURLEY • ACME HOSPITALITY • HUTTON PARKER FOUNDATION • CYNTHIA + JAMES LEE • HAZEN FAMILY FOUNDATION • KAPPY WELLS (TIDES FOUNDATION) • FIND YOUR LIGHT FOUNDATION • SAM DAVIS • JOHNSON OHANA FOUNDATION • HEATHER TAYLOR + TODD BOGDAN • TEGAN + SARA FOUNDATION • JOHN MCGOVERN • NANCY O'CONNOR • KIMBERLY + KYLE BRANUM • WELLS RYAN
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