Since its opening in 1918, YMCA Camp Wapsie has offered generations of Iowa children a version of summer that feels increasingly rare: days spent outdoors, friendships formed face-to-face and lessons learned by creating new memories. Tucked into 182 acres near the Wapsipinicon River outside of Coggon, Wapsie has become more than just a summer camp.
Today, the camp serves more than 2,000 campers each summer through overnight and day programs while also hosting retreats and community events year-round to fundraise. The property includes cabins, a swimming pool, the back waters for canoeing, ropes courses, zip lines, sports courts and archery.
Paul Denowski, YMCA Camp Wapsie’s Executive Director, has been a part of the camp since 2003 and loves spreading the positive effects of sending kids to camp each summer.
“Camp is such a great way for kids to learn and grow,” Denowski said. “They get to experience the outdoors. They get to meet and make new friends, meet people from different areas and a lot of those turn into lifelong memories and friendships.”
The philosophy of creating friendships is reflected in the camp’s structure. Younger children often begin in supervised cabin or village programs before moving into more independent experiences as they grow older.
For 1st-3rd grade children, the Village is a program that offers full and half week opportunities to allow kids to adapt to camp. Then for 4th-10th grade children, cabin camping is a program that allows more independence and activity opportunities. For 8th-10th graders, Ranger is a more hands-on outdoor skills program where campers stay in tents for the week and cook their own meals.
Wapsie also offers leadership development programs (LIT) which is a three week long experience designed for high school kids who want to develop life-long leadership and counseling skills. Counselor-in-training (CIT) is a four week program also available for older high school students which expands on the LIT training with a focus on becoming a counselor or working with kids.
Finley Frieden, 10, has been going to Wapsie for five years and has gone through the LIT program and will be in the CIT program this summer. Frieden loved being a cabin camper because of the connections and overall experience of camp.
“You have so much more freedom. It also comes with more responsibility, and it is a big learning experience,” Frieden said. “What I loved about LIT is I didn’t know anybody that was going to be in my session, and then you become such close friends with them by the end of the three weeks.”
As the week wraps up for campers, Wapsie holds the wishstick fire on Friday night where every cabin gets to throw in three sticks and say their wishes. Then the next morning, Denowski collects the ashes to add to the next fire, passing on the wishes from the previous weeks. Most people who have attended Camp Wapsie remember the wishstick fire tradition and how it tied the week together.
“You get to see everybody coming together, all the memories and friendships made. There’s the sadness that people are leaving, but it’s really based on how great of an experience everyone had at camp,” Denowski said.
