Thanks for an unforgettable summer!
Check back for Summer 2023 dates
For almost one hundred years, Rowe has been a place for young people to live, learn, grow and explore.
Since 1924 our camps have been dedicated to creating confident and self-directed young people who feel accepted and welcome exactly how they are. Rowe is a place to be silly, let your hair down and have fun as well as safely explore the serious and uncomfortable topics of life. To be at Rowe is to live in community and to walk the line between self expression and civic responsibility. Our camps empower youth to stand up for what they believe and exercise their voice and vote in the world around them. They also surround campers with a sense of wonder, creativity and play.
Check out this article from former camp co-director, Chelsea Rose-Pulitzer: Rowe Camp Is What Happens When You Are Making Other Plans.
You are welcome here!
You are welcome and accepted at Rowe exactly as you are. Since our very first camp in 1924, inclusion and acceptance have been at the cornerstone of what we do. We were one of the first summer camps in the country to offer gender-neutral cabin options, and respecting your pronouns is a given part of camp life. Dietary diversity can be stressful. Regardless of whether you are vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free or anywhere in between, you are a first class citizen at Rowe. We also have scholarships specifically tailored to support economic and cultural diversity at camp, because we want the camp community to look more and more like the global community. Although we cannot accommodate all needs, our staff bends over backwards to ensure that every child feels welcome and accepted and can fully participate in camp life. Please don’t hesitate to reach out below with any specific questions.
Camp Life
Camp Life
Camp life is centered around fun and empowerment! Campers have a voice in how they want to spend their day – whether it be diving deep into the hard topics of their lives or crafting in the art studio, playing a game of ultimate frisbee or a low key game of Magic the Gathering. Our camps are structured so that as campers get older they have more and more freedom to shape their camp experience. We like to say that we make camp WITH the campers not FOR the campers!
Workshops & Playshops
Want to build a snowman (in the summer)? Play capture the flag? Attend sunrise yoga? Go swimming? Talk about just what the heck happened to the world last year?
Workshops and playshops run multiple times each day and form the backbone of camp. These staff-led signup activities range from silly to serious and low key to high energy. All campers have a choice in how they want to participate and in our older camps, campers can sign up for as many or as few as they want. Campers even get a voice in what types of workshops are offered.
All-Camp Activities
Help! An evil robot has taken over the kitchen, fired all the workers and now insists on serving everyone something called a “jankey burger”. Only a few days ago giant pickles invaded camp! What is going on?
Most days feature at least one all-camp activity. It may be a talent show, dance or fireside sing along; it could take the form of an elaborate theme day; or it could simply be an all camp meeting or workshop. Our Junior and Senior High Camps include frank and honest conversations about race, social justice and sexuality.
Chapel
Chapel is one of the most dearly held camp traditions for Junior and Senior High campers. Held nightly in our historic centuries-old Preserved Smith Memorial Chapel, the gatherings are not “religious” in the traditional sense. Like everything else we do at Rowe it is sometimes silly, sometimes serious but always meaningful. Favorites include “The Wave”, a freeform immersive audio experience; “Purple Bishop Chapel”, a spooky exploration of Rowe’s “haunted history”; and “Grokking”, a time for campers to explore their deep interconnectedness to those around them.
Staff
Rowe is nothing without its amazing talented and dedicated camp staff. Most are former campers with a deep understanding of the camp experience and many return year after year. Our counselors are more than just caretakers, they are guides and trusted mentors. Our counselors check in with campers each night and meet each day as a group to talk about who might need a little extra attention or is at risk of “falling through the cracks”. Our Co-Directors are extremely accessible and frequently reach out to parents over the course of camp as the need arises.
COVID-19 FAQ
For details about our summer 2022 plans, please keep watching this page!
Literally nothing, including summer camp, has been left untouched by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. During summer 2021, The Rowe Center implemented a number of changes designed to ensure a safe and supportive camp environment for all campers and staff.
With the approval of COVID-19 vaccines for children under 12, we are requiring COVID-19 vaccination for all campers for summer 2022. Please click below to read our full COVID-19 FAQ and our coronavirus safety policy from 2021.
Camp Dates
Click on the image banner to register!
Camper Forms
All of our camper information forms are available to fill out online and can be accessed through the button below. We hope that this online system will make uploading all of your camper’s information an easy and quick process.
Rowe strives to be a place of inclusion and empowerment for all of our campers. The age ranges listed for each camp are what we feel is appropriate for our programming. However, these is some flexibility in the listed age ranges, especially between the YPC sessions.
If you feel that your camper would be most comfortable in a younger session, we are happy to work out accommodations.
Rowe Camp Statement of Purpose
“We believe that every human being has inherent worth and dignity. At camp, we practice this by empowering young people to play, explore, and learn about themselves and others in an environment that is both liberating and nurturing.
Our programming fosters age-appropriate critical thinking and reflection as much as it does curiosity, creativity, and joy. This provides the means to explore essential topics like power and diversity, friendship and intimacy, and technology and society at any developmental level.
Campers are challenged to balance freedom and self-expression with compassion for and responsibility to themselves and others. Campers, as a body, take an active role in decision-making and envisioning the future of camp, and their contributions are what make each session unique.
By doing these things, we aim to empower campers with a strong sense of community and sense of self, to be active voices in their own communities and their lives, and to make the world a better place for all.”
Unanimously approved in 2020 by the youth programing advisory committee, the Rowe Camp statement of purpose serves as the foundation and guiding principles of all decisions related to camp.
This camp must comply with regulations of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and be licensed by the local board of health.