Camp Lookout has offered free summer camp for children of Stone and Taney County for 28 years.

POINT LOOKOUT, MO. — Camp Lookout, a community outreach program hosted by College of the Ozarks, returned for its 28^th year of offering a free summer camp to children in Stone and Taney counties this summer. This year’s camp theme was “Solid as the Rock” and was designed to remind campers of the importance of building a solid faith.

Camp Lookout is hosted on the College of the Ozarks campus at the campgrounds, complete with an activities field, housing, and playgrounds. For the summer of 2023, 10 sessions of camp were offered from May 30 – August 3. Approximately 50 campers, ages 8-12, from Stone and Taney County participated in Camp Lookout activities each week.

In designing this program, the College wanted to provide a Christian camp experience for children with financial need.

Caden Peterson, College of the Ozarks student activities director and director of Camp Lookout, is working his first summer at Camp Lookout. Lori Simmons serves as the College of the Ozarks Christian ministries community service coordinator and administrator of Camp Lookout. Together, they oversee the camp, planning activities, training the counselors, and implementing the guidelines for all activities. Training for the counselors included team-building activities, safety training, developing the teaching materials, and preparing the campground for the campers.

“The theme ‘Solid as The Rock’ points to the trustworthiness and steadfastness of our Savior,” Simmons said. “Pointing campers to a hope in Christ and a knowledge that He loves them and can be trusted is life changing.”

“The best part of camp this summer has been seeing these wonderful student workers have a blast with the campers and getting to share the love of Jesus with them,” Peterson said. “Jesus is the purpose. Jesus changes everything for us. He changed me from death to life, so my passion for camp is getting to share that message with this next generation. I love having fun and creating exciting activities for the campers to enjoy. We as a camp got to show Jesus during the fun because He created us with the ability to have fun. Jesus is in and through everything at camp.”

Campers participated in a variety of activities while spending the week at camp, including community service, water days, and swimming. Additionally, the campers went to Silver Dollar City once a week to enjoy the rides and sights. To celebrate the theme “Solid as the Rock,” evening worship sessions and devotions were also integrated into the daily camp schedule.

All activities at Camp Lookout were guided and supervised by a team of 40 counselors who rotated shifts to spend time with the kids either in morning, afternoon, or evening. Counselors are all students at College of the Ozarks who have a passion for helping children and a love for Christ.

“Being a camp counselor is amazing because at the beginning you don’t know the kids, but then you get to build a relationship with them,” said Sasha Burch, sophomore family studies and social services major said. “One camper that I met was adopted, and she thought because she was adopted no one wanted to be friends with her. I was able to talk to her and tell her I have friends and I was adopted, too.”