Top Campers Awarded

Sr. Krista von Borstel Leave a comment

Being awarded the top camping award at Catholic youth camp is an honor and exciting experience. Youth are reminded that bringing our best selves to camp and engaging in good wholesome fun, being kind, including everyone, being helpful and respecting camp and others are important values to make the camp operate smoothly.  Witnessing Christ through our actions makes camp a lot of fun for everyone.

One youth from each cabin is awarded the coveted Cougar Award each week as determined by the cabin counselor and or the cabin members.

The attached photos were taken around the camp Thursday July 30, 2026 at Camp Howard. Double Click on photos to enlarge them. Please “Like” and ” Subscribe” to my blog thank you!

Bringing our Best Selves to Camp Howard

Sr. Krista von Borstel 1 Comment

Catholic youth camp is such a joyful and unforgettable experience because it brings young people together in a place filled with faith, friendship, and fun. From the moment camp begins, there is a sense of excitement in the air as everyone joins in games, songs, prayer, and shared adventures. The laughter around the campfire, the energy of team activities, and the peace of time spent in reflection all combine to create memories that last a lifetime. It is a place where campers can be fully themselves while also discovering the beauty of being part of a loving community centered on Christ.

More than just being fun, Camp Howard calls us to become our better selves. In the middle of all the excitement, we are reminded to grow in kindness, courage, and faith. Through prayer, worship, and conversations with others, we are encouraged to listen more deeply to God’s voice and to think about the person He is calling us to be. Camp inspires us to return home not only with happy memories, but with a stronger desire to live with purpose, serve others with love, and reflect Christ in everything we do.

Enjoy these photos taken Wednesday July 29, 2026 at Camp Howard:

Bringing our best selves to camp can be by inspiration or invitation.

Trap Shooting, Campfire & Fun

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CIT’s or Counselors in Training have a light moment at Camp Howard during Camp Store visit.

It was another fun filled day at Camp Howard with a plethora of activities going on around the camp including a specialty camp, Trap Shooting, this week. Each week we have a specialty camp that campers can sign up for during that week such as fishing, paintball, survival, basketball, volleyball and trap shooting.

Three times a week we end the day with a campfire, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Campfires are one of my favorite activities and I begin each one with prayer and very short campfire talk on God Moments and becoming our best selves. Chloe May, Camp Howard Program Director takes over and announces the campers who have signed up to do an act like sing a song, lead us in a camp song, do a skit or some other fun performance.

Enjoy the attached photos of the day:

Campers at Camp Howard Session 4

Magical Moments at Camp Howard

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Magical as camp can be, children learn a lot of important things as campers in the various activities they take part in. Through all of the activities they build a confidence in themselves that new experiences generate. One of my favorites to watch is the zip line. I had the opportunity to watch the campers disembark from the first platform and it took a lot of courage for some of them but once they launched, they were off to the races.

We do evaluations from campers twice a week to try to get ahead of any problems that might be going on. This was a great one…

What was your favorite activity?, “I loved it all!”

What was your least favorite activity? “None”

What was the best part of your week at Camp Howard? “I will always remember Capture the Flag!”

What would make Camp Howard even better? “Field Trips”

Not that the evaluations are always perfect but they generally are pretty darn good! That’s the way we like it!

I Took Time to Scrutinize the Foxglove

Sr. Krista von Borstel 1 Comment

How could I help it? It was showing off. I had the time and I took it. I drove the back logging road to find the location of the new paintball arena when I noticed the foxglove dazzling in all its glory. The light hit it just right to accentuate the outlines. The colors shone through the oval flowers shaped like a bell with glistening light penetrating the curves. Beautiful to behold. I pulled out my camera and attached a lens while my mind raced to imagine who I would share it with.

The plant cannot help but attract attention including that of the Camp Howard campers. Built into our summer talks include not touching the foxglove because it is used in heart medicine and will make your heart race. One camper over my many years with the camp needed to experience it himself so he rubbed the foxglove with his hands and licked it with his tongue resulting in a trip to the doctor. Somehow, retelling that story seems to be enough for the rest of the campers and I think they don’t want to give up any camp time.

The beautiful magenta foxglove created a speckled exhibit of color and glow at Camp Howard early June 2026

The Howling Howard Zipline at Camp Howard

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The zip line at Camp Howard was installed by SYNERGO in 2016 and a naming contest was held with the Catholic Schools. Levi Samuels from St. Ignatius School won the contest with “The Howling Howard.”

The Zip Line and Big Swing are reserved for the older campers during the week as getting everyone through the events would not be possible. Camp Howard has progressive activities for campers and these two events are the peak experiences.

Several Camp Howard staff are trained each summer to operate the Howling Howard and give campers a thrill through the four sections of the zipline. Future expansions of the Zip line are expected.

Enjoy these photos and clips of some Session 3 participants:

Having Fun at Camp Howard

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Camp Howard is a great place to go to experience the great outdoors and have fun doing activities that bring life such as zip line, big swing, corcls, arts and crafts, pedal carts, laser tag, paintball, bb guns, archery, survival camp, trap shooting, pool, 100′ slip and slide and many other things.

This week, survival camp was a specialty camp along with volleyball and basketball camp. All other general camp activities take place as well. There are options for everyone and it is exciting to see the campers engage in as many activities as possible during the week.

Enjoy a few photos from this week:

Riding the GIANT Swing at Camp Howard

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If an adrenaline rush is your thing, then this is your swing! The Giant Swing at Camp Howard has been thrilling the kids since 2017. We work with a highly respected adventure company who not only builds the events such as the Giant Swing, low ropes and the Zip Line, but they also do the inspections, training of personnel and repair of the stations.

Watching our camp staff operate the challenge courses makes me very proud of the youth development that happens at CYO and Camp Howard. Teaching skills that build confidence and skills is invaluable to youth and a wonderful contribution to society.

Team work goes into the operation of the big swing. Ropes and pullys and the effort of cabin mates, elevate the camper into the air as far as they would like to go. Once they achieve the height they are comfortable at, they signal the group. Once they are ready, they hit the release on their harness and swing out into the wide open spaces.

Enjoy the Giant Swing film:

Why Kids and Parents Alike Loved Family Camp at Camp Howard

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When John Scott was leaving, he leaned over and shared with me that we have a good thing going here at Camp Howard.  John and his extended family had stayed the weekend having fun with us at Family Camp 2026.  It meant a lot to hear that from John because it is true, we do have a good thing going here and I am just glad it shows!

The dust from the busses had hardly settled Friday night when cars began rolling in, ready for Family Camp.  Every cabin was scheduled, twenty staff members stayed on to make some great memories for the families who chose to spend their weekend at Camp Howard. 

I cannot say enough about the youth leaders who changed their roles at camp for the weekend and did a super job, working in the kitchen, running programs, helping at campfire, making sure people had a great time. 

Families had the run of the camp to try out several of our programs and get a taste of what their children might expect from a week at the camp.  It was also a great opportunity to let the kids get comfortable in the environment and excited about coming as a week-long camper.

The families had a wonderful time at the camp, enjoyed the food, games, programs, campfires and interaction with staff.  It was a very memorable campout, and we thank all our families for taking part!

Enjoy our family camp photos and please “like” and “subscribe”

Session 3 Is Here: Another Exciting Week of Camp Begins

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The dust rolled off the back of the tires as the busses hit the gravel road leading into Camp Howard Sunday afternoon and 175 campers disembarked for a week of pure fun. The luggage crew went to work delivering luggage to the various units where the campers would be housed and the youth leadership crew began the process of grouping the campers into cabin teams. A weekly ritual during summer camp, everyone has a job and it works like clockwork…most of the time.

Enjoy the photos from the arrival of the busses: