Luke Hlavin is the Assistant Program Director at Annunciation Heights.
Summer is quickly approaching. School will soon be drawing to a close. Alongside the excitement and anticipation that the change in seasons brings, there also comes the perennial question every parent faces: “What is my child going to do to stay busy and active this summer?” With the ever-present reality of video games and phones dominating every free moment of the day, there are so many things that might fill your child’s free time.
But what if summer could be a time of adventure and transformation, faith and friendship? What if your child could experience something new and different in the Rocky Mountains, right in your backyard? With the inaugural season of Annunciation Heights Summer Camp, that indeed could become your child’s reality!
There are at least five ways your child or children could benefit from a week of camp at Annunciation Heights. Here they are:
1. Adventure in the great outdoors
Annunciation Heights sits in the Tahosa Valley, at the base of Twin Sister’s Mountain, with a full view of Long’s Peak. At this unique location, AH offers your child an opportunity to get outdoors and have some good, old-fashioned fun. Always mindful of creating a safe and supervised environment in which your child can grow and play, we offer a 40-foot climbing wall, a high ropes adventure course, a 1000-foot zip-line and a hiking trail on the property! On our lake, we have kayaks and stand-up paddleboards! Not to mention the amazing day hikes we have planned for our campers! Your child will truly be able to experience all that the Colorado Rockies have to offer.
2. Growth in friendship
Relationship is at the core of the camp experience! The pace of life is often overwhelming, and at times it is difficult to find time to intentionally deepen friendships. With a week spent sharing the intense and powerful experience of summer camp, deep and lasting friendships easily form and grow, friendships founded on genuine encounter with one another. Your child just may come out of camp with a lifelong friend.
3. Role-modeling
How better to guide your child’s growth than by putting good role models in their life? This year’s summer staff team is full of faith-filled, energetic, and dedicated men and women excited to spend the summer with your child. These college student staffers come from all over the country, excited to contribute to the unique mission of Annunciation Heights: to encounter the Creator through the beauty of creation, and to share that with others. What an opportunity for your child to have an older brother or sister in Christ!
4. Disconnect from technology
Annunciation Heights has the unique privilege of truly being off the grid. Without cell-coverage or Wi-Fi, your child will be encouraged to meet others in direct, personal ways. While technology can easily become the wall every child or teenager hides behind, here at AH, there are no walls, because there are no phones! With this comes the real potential for personal encounter with others, with God, and with oneself.
5. Deepening of faith
Most importantly, Annunciation Heights exists to provide a space to deepen one’s relationship with Christ. Each member of the AH family is motivated by a desire to share the love they themselves have received from God with others. The ultimate goal for all involved at Annunciation Heights is that your child walks away from camp a better follower of Christ, more in love with the Church, and more committed to the Christian values at the core of your family life. Christ is at the center of this camp, and we want Him to be the center of your child’s life.
Yes, this summer can be full to overflowing with all this and more! It only takes one week for an experience to galvanize the faith and friendships already planted deep within your child’s heart! It only takes one week to begin a yearly tradition, a tradition that will have life-giving impact on the life of your child and your family. This is indeed our first year, and with it comes the potential for you and your child to help shape and create the culture that will become a mainstay in the Catholic life of the archdiocese.
Annunciation Heights’ staff are getting excited, the mountains are beginning to thaw out, and Annunciation Heights is ready to welcome this year’s campers to a summer unlike any other! Register today, become a part of the Annunciation Heights family, and discover what summer camp can do for your child, and your family.
