Pathfinder
Pathfinder Is A Camp Schedule For Girls Entering Grades 9 – 11 Who Are Not Enrolled in CILT.
9th Grade Girls May Also Join A Traditional Session Rather Than Pathfinder.
Introducing the Exciting New Pathfinder Schedule for Teens!
We’re excited to bring a special weekly schedule to our campers entering 9th – 11th grade that is designed to be a fun and challenging discipleship week for our campers who are not enrolled in CILT. This week will blend the traditional Mt. Gilead experience they have come to love and some new memorable adventures tailored to their older ages.
A Unique Camp Experience:
During their week, high school grade girls will stay together in a cabin, similar to the EQ or CILT programs. However, they’ll also get to participate in nightly camp activities, enjoy campfires, and engage in exciting late-night adventures.
Each day, the cabin will choose from a diverse array of camp activities, including riflery, archery, ceramics, high ropes, low ropes, canoeing, hiking, camping, and crafts. They’ll have the freedom to enjoy these activities when our younger campers are not using them.
Off-Site Excursions & Diverse Camp Activities:
We take our Pathfinder Week campers on off-site adventures, such as canoeing, rafting and hiking at the beautiful Lehigh Valley River and the Deleware Water Gap State Park.
Our camp week is filled with a variety of new and traditional activities such as crafts, riflery, archery, swimming, canoeing, and engaging campfire messages that are both thought-provoking and inspiring.
This week is all about blending the cherished Mt. Gilead experience with new adventures designed especially for our older campers. It’s an opportunity for growth, fun, and making memories that will last a lifetime.
Our goal is to impart important life lessons rooted in a Biblical worldview. We want to teach the value of prayer, studying God’s Word, and spending time in it daily. We’ve named this program “Pathfinders” because, like many teens and young adults, they’re on a journey to discover who they are and where they fit in this world.
We believe in the power of faith, prayer, and the transformative journey of submitting to the Holy Spirit’s guidance. Our camp aims to kickstart these conversations and equip our teens with practical faith-building tools.
Join Us on the Path:
While a week at camp can’t accomplish everything, it’s a meaningful start. We hope to create a safe, nurturing space for our campers to explore their faith, build relationships, and simply enjoy being kids.
Proverbs 3:5-6 reminds us to trust in the Lord and submit to His guidance, and we believe this experience will help make your path straight.
We’re excited to have your teen daughters join us on this extraordinary journey. For more information or to reserve a spot for the Pathfinder Week, please reach out to us.
Frequently Asked Question: What About Pathfinders (High School Campers) Staying In Younger Aged Cabins With Friends/Family?
Can my Pathfinder-aged daughter stay overnight in a cabin with non-Pathfinder-aged campers?
At Mt. Gilead Camp, our mission is to provide a safe, nurturing, and Christ-centered environment tailored to the developmental needs of all our campers. To support this mission, we maintain a policy that Pathfinder-aged girls (grades 10-11) must stay in cabins designated for their program and age group, rather than bunking with younger, non-Pathfinder-aged campers. Below, we outline the reasons for this policy:
#1. Statistically Wiser: Protecting Age-Appropriate Experiences: High school-aged girls are often exposed to social media, music, movies, and discussions involving mature topics such as premarital decisions, LGBTQ+ topics, divorce, addiction, mental health struggles, and other personal subjects and sensitive, and often difficult experiences. These conversations can arise during periods when close full-time supervision may not be available, such as during free time or activities like canoeing or swimming. While parts of these discussions may be suitable for older campers seeking counseling or guidance, they are often inappropriate for younger girls who have not yet encountered such topics at home. Although Mt. Gilead Camp has a higher staff-to-camper ratio than most camps, it has been proven that keeping high school girls separate overnight and during most free times helps ensure that all campers engage in discussions and activities appropriate for their developmental stages. We still strive to have all age groups come together for organized activities and meals when possible throughout the day, but fun and socialization come second to safety and protection of young hearts and minds here at camp.
#2. Social Dynamics: Maintaining Balanced Cabin Relationships: When older campers bunk with younger ones, they may unintentionally (or intentionally) influence the social environment, which can diminish the experience for younger campers. By social environment, we mean direction of conversations, interests, and hirearchy of camper leadership based on age and grade overpowering or guiding a younger campers voice and overall experience.
#3. Honoring Parental Expectations: Many parents of younger campers prefer that their daughters share a cabin only with girls of similar ages, as they are concerned about exposure to mature topics and social dynamics. This preference reinforces our commitment to age-specific cabins, ensuring that all families can feel confident in the safety and appropriateness of their camper’s experience. In other words, it’s what younger camper parents expect us to do.
#4. Ensuring Fairness and Consistency: Since establishing this policy, we have consistently declined requests to move pathfinder-aged campers into younger cabins. Allowing exceptions would undermine our ministry’s commitment to equitable treatment and could lead to confusion among parents who see older campers in younger cabins at drop-off, questioning why similar arrangements are not offered to everyone. This perception of unfairness undermines the effectiveness of our policies. Essentially, if we say no to one parent, we must say no to all in similar circumstances.
Exceptions: We recognize that some campers may have unique needs requiring special accommodations. Girls with autism spectrum disorder or intellectual disabilities may be permitted to stay in cabins with younger campers, as determined on a case-by-case basis by our camp leadership. This exception is made to support their comfort and well-being based on situations in their normal daily lives at home, ensuring a positive and inclusive camp experience to match their needs.
By upholding this policy, we strengthen our ability to serve all campers effectively and preserve the integrity of both our Pathfinder and younger camper programs. We deeply value the trust you place in us and appreciate your understanding of our commitment to providing a safe, supportive, and age-appropriate camp experience.