Leadership Camp

June 6 – 12, 2024
For boys entering 6th – 8th grade

Leadership Camp is an action-packed, one-week overnight summer camp for entering 6th – 8th grade boys. Drawing upon over 30 years of experience, the camp aims to help boys develop the skills and virtues necessary to be leaders.

The Program

Each boy is placed on a team with about 10 other campers with whom he shares a cabin or tent, attends activities, and competes in games. Every morning, campers attend a talk on a specific virtue, as well as classes on filmmaking, biology, engineering, or self-defense. In the afternoons, boys compete in football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and dodgeball, followed by a refreshing swim.  Each evening features a camp-wide activity ranging from capture the flag to a treasure hunt to the talent show on the last night.  Other activities including canoeing, archery, and mini-Olympics are offered throughout the camp.  Spiritual activities, such as daily Mass, praying the Rosary, and confession, are offered.

Throughout the week, the counselors of each team help the boys to apply principles of leadership and lessons from the virtue talks to concrete situations during the camp. Most importantly, the staff speak individually with each camper to help him grow in self-knowledge and to formulate resolutions for growing in character after the camp.

Classes

Each camper signs up for a class to take each morning during the camp. The class options will be finalized in the springtime. Once you register for the camp, we will contact you and give you an opportunity to choose your classes.  Classes offered in recent years have been:

2023: Backyard Ballistics, Pirate Lore, Filmmaking, Self-Defense, Life Science, Wilderness Survival

2022: Backyard Ballistics, Espionage, Life Science, Filmmaking, Indy Soapbox Cars, Self Defense 

2021: Backyard Ballistics, Espionage, Filmmaking, Indy 500 Soapbox Cars, Life Science, Self-Defense.
2019:
Backyard Ballistics, Computer Programming, Filmmaking, Life Science, Self-Defense.
2018:
Artifacts & Inventions, Backyard Ballistics, Computer Programming, Life Science, Self-Defense.

Dates & Location

Leadership Camp this year will run from June 6 – 12, 2024.  Campers should arrive at the camp on Thursday, June 6 between 3:30 – 5:00 pm (EDT). They should depart from the camp on Wednesday, June 12 between 11:00 am – 12:00 pm (EDT).

The camp is held at the Franklin L. Cary Boy Scout Camp, located 5 miles east of Lafayette, Indiana. The grounds cover 118 acres of hills, woods, and wildlife. The facilities include a dining hall, cabins, campgrounds, sports fields, an archery range, a swimming pool, nature trails and an outdoor amphitheater.

Cary Camp
6286 State Road 26 East
Lafayette, IN 47905

To help parents coordinate transportation to and from the camp with other parents in their area, we share the mailing address and home phone number of registered families with each other. On the camper registration form, you will have an opportunity to mark whether or not you would like your contact info to be shared and whether you would like to receive that of others. For those who mark yes, we will send you this contact information as the camp approaches.

The Staff

The camp staff has been carefully selected and trained to be outstanding leaders and role models. They share the ideals of Leadership Camp and are dedicated to the personal growth of each camper.  The Camp is directed by Sauganash staff assisted by a few fathers of campers as well as college and high school students who attend activities at Sauganash and other centers similar to Sauganash and who are chosen for their maturity and experience. The camper-staff ratio is 4 to 1.

For additional information about applying to be a camp counselor, click here.

Cost & Payment

The cost of the camp is $525.

A deposit of $100 is due at the time of registration. This deposit will apply toward the cost of the camp.

All payments can be made to Youth Service International, the sponsor of the camp.  Click here for payment information.

Full payment is due by May 25.

Registration Information

Please register online at the link below. Registrations will be on a first come first serve basis. Registrations received beyond the max amount will be placed on the waitlist in the order in which they were received. Registrations will not be considered complete until the following items are received.

  • $100 deposit
  • Signed medical release form mailed to the address below.  Click here to download the form.

Mail the medical release form with any checks to:

YSI
5815 N. Cicero Ave.
Chicago, IL 60646

Click here for a packing list.

The Sponsor

Leadership Camp is sponsored by Youth Service International and directed by Sauganash staff.  YSI organizes and directs activities for students from around the country.

Through its programs, YSI provides a forum whereby each student is challenged to grow in virtues such as generosity, nobility, hard work, friendship, and solidarity.

The Christian orientation of all YSI programs is entrusted to Opus Dei, a personal Prelature of the Catholic Church.

For More Information

Thomas Boles
(310) 954-7784
tboles@sauganashcenter.org