Frequently Asked Questions

Once you have registered your camper, you will have the opportunity to complete follow-up forms online here. Your child may specify up to three other campers to bunk with, and the request must be mutual from all parties. We cannot place groups of friends larger than four in the same cabin. With over 41 summers of camp experience, we know this to be the best arrangement for our campers and program. Please coordinate your child’s cabin mate requests carefully with the other camper parents. The requests must be mutual (completely agree with one another). In other words, if one camper lists a cabin mate who in turn does not list them, the request cannot be honored.

We assign skill classes by registration dates as long as the completed follow-up forms have been received at least three weeks prior to the camp date. The children who register the earliest get the first choice of skill classes. Additionally, campers who are friends or cabin mates will generally not be in the same skill classes. The reason for this is the scheduling complexity of activity choices and periods for over 178 different campers per week. Remember that the 4 hours the campers spend daily in skill classes represents only a fraction of the total camp day and therefore leaves plenty of time for fellowship with friends and cabin mates. You may complete your camper forms and select activities here.

Campers really enjoy getting mail during their stay at camp. In addition, we provide a free email service that allows you to send 2 emails to your camper during their week. Due to the amount of summer activity, we do not accept faxes or provide email responses from campers. If you choose to, you may leave packages or letters for your campers at the General Store on your way out after check-in. Due to the amount of parent participation in this complimentary service, we limit the number and size of packages delivered to each camper during the week to no more than 2 shoebox-sized boxes. Any additional or oversized packages will not be delivered. Please do not put money, valuables, or anything edible in the packages, or send these items by mail.

We do not accept faxes for campers or emails through camp administration (i.e. emails may come through Parent Page only).

Homesickness affects all ages (including moms and dads)! Most new campers will exhibit some symptoms of homesickness during the first night away from home, and in almost every case, the cure comes with the first day of activity. Please do not become alarmed if you receive a homesick letter. Also, please choose your words carefully when writing or talking to your camper, especially as you depart. Comments about empty rooms, sad pets, and picking campers up early tend to stir up feelings of homesickness. If your camper becomes homesick, we will do our best to help them enjoy the camp week. We take homesickness very seriously. We train our staff and plan our program in such a way as to avoid homesickness. However, there are a few children every summer who are unable to shake homesickness. (No more than five in 1000 campers go home early due to homesickness each summer.) If this happens, we will contact you. Please understand that, should you choose to remove your child from camp due to homesickness, you will not receive a refund.

Phone calls disrupt a camper’s daily activities and can hinder a camper from fully enjoying the camp environment. Moreover, experience proves that phone calls tend to increase homesickness. We do allow campers to call home on Friday only if absolutely necessary. If you want your camper to call home, please provide him or her with a calling card for long distance calls to cell phones as mobile services do not accept collect calls. Prior to Friday, telephone communication with a camper is limited to emergency situations only, which must be approved by a Camp Director. Don’t be alarmed if your child doesn’t call; just assume “no news is good news.”

We recommend that campers bring $40-$50 for snacks and the General Store. This money is placed into their account so that they don’t have to handle it during the week. They can make purchases with their name. Leftover money will be returned Saturday morning. You can place money in your camper’s spending account prior to their camp week here.

We serve three nutritionally balanced meals a day. Many of our breads and desserts are homemade and keep the kids coming back for more! We do know that certain kids will not like certain foods, so we put out plenty of extras, like fruit – and there’s always peanut butter and jelly in an emergency!

A deposit secures your child’s spot in a given week of camp, which is important because by late Spring there will be waiting lists for most camps. Your deposit is also very important in helping us prepare camp, our program, and the necessary recreational equipment for your child.

Provided there is room in the week you wish to change to, you may do so up until May 1. After that date, an additional deposit will be required in order to change weeks.

We take camper supervision very seriously. With over 40 years of summer camping success, Frontier Camp is large enough to offer top-quality recreation and sound Biblical teaching, yet small enough so that your child is more than a number. We understand that we’re only as good as our Counselors and Support Staff. With that in mind, we strive to hire the best! We screen each applicant carefully in regard to their Christian commitment, their love for children, and their general lifestyle, but the process does not stop there. Our Program and Counseling Staff undergoes an intensive week-long training session before camp begins to provide each staff member with training in Frontier’s purpose, program, procedures, first aid, lifeguard training and CPR. A college-age Senior Counselor and an upper high-school age Junior Counselor are assigned to each cabin of 14 campers. Additionally there are two activity leaders at each activity, and we have staff monitoring the campground during the transitions between activity periods and during free time. In fact, each member of our staff, from the Executive Director to the Head Cook, interacts daily with the campers so that they truly receive an excellent experience!

Through Mystery Prophet skits, Bible dramas, campfires, and cabin devotions, we will share many different stories and lessons from the Bible. Teen Campers will have seminars, worship times, and evening campfires which focus on subjects relevant to today’s youth. At least once during the week we will present the Gospel, meaning that we share with campers the fact that we are sinners (Romans 3:23), Jesus came to save us from our sin (1 Timothy 1:15), and all we have to do to be saved from our sin is trust Jesus Christ (John 3:16). This Good News from the Bible will usually be presented in Cabin Devotions by the counselors, and we do not force or pressure campers to make any spiritual decisions.

The camper deposit is non-refundable and non-transferable. In cases where a camper’s registration is canceled upon a doctor’s order, the deposit, less an administration fee of $35, will be refunded. No deductions or refunds will be given for late arrivals or early departures. Frontier Camp will refund any amount that has been paid over and above the deposit for any cancellation prior to May 1. Frontier Camp reserves the right to dismiss any camper whose behavior is detrimental or harmful to self, other campers, or camp staff. Campers sent home for disciplinary reasons will not receive a refund and may be ineligible to return for future summers.

Limited accident ($10,000) and sickness ($5,000) insurance is carried on each camper. In the event of a claim, expenses above these amounts must be covered by the parent’s or guardian’s personal insurance.

Check in will be in the Standley Chapel from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Please DO NOT arrive at camp earlier than 2:30 pm; we want our staff to be in place to welcome you! To speed up the check-in process, we require all camp registration fees to be paid in full by May 1, 2011. Completed camper forms must be submitted to our office at least 3 weeks prior to your arrival date.

Camp ends at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Parents are invited to attend a closing ceremony in the Chapel beginning at 9:00 a.m. The ceremony, consisting of the camp video, songs, and some brief closing announcements, will conclude promptly at 9:30. Campers may be picked up beginning at 9:30 a.m. and not later than 10:30 a.m. Proceed directly to the chapel (please do not come into the dining hall). We will have coffee and a breakfast snack available for parents while the campers finish breakfast before the closing ceremony starts! All campers must be signed out in person with the Sr. Counselor at the camper’s cabin by their parents, legal guardians, or designees. Sign-outs will be verified at the camp gate as campers exit. Written instructions signed by the parent or legal guardian must be received by the camp office in advance if someone else is picking up your camper at closing. Frontier Camp may request a photo identification of those picking up campers.

If you need to pick your camper up before Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m., please call the camp office and to arrange the pick-up. Non-emergency camper departures prior to Saturday will be assessed an administrative fee of $25. This fee covers the cost of taking staff out of the regular camp program to prepare for your camper’s departure (e.g. gathering TP money, medication, camp DVD, etc.)

We do have a Plan B in case of rain (and it is not Plan A in the rain!). Our facilities and access/egress to our camp are located on high ground not threatened by potential flooding of Houston County Lake or the Trinity River which flows about 5.5 miles to the west of camp. We have Emergency Action Plans in place for fire, tornadoes and severe storms. The safety of all of our campers and staff is always our number one concern. Of course, we always covet your prayers for the weather and for our safety!

Our Camp Healthcare Administrator is a registered nurse and is responsible for supervising our camp healthcare staff that treat all minor cuts, scrapes, and bruises. In case of an emergency, our camp doctor is on call 24 hours a day. When necessary, campers will be transported to East Texas Medical Center in Crockett, approximately 20 minutes from camp. The camp healthcare staff or other camp staff member will contact you in the case of:

• An accident or illness requiring the attention of non-camp medical personnel (such as an EMT, or clinic visit).

• Any accident or illness requiring an overnight stay in the infirmary.

• Any accident or illness for which the healthcare staff deems a call to the parent or guardian to be in the best interest of the camper or parent.

Yes, as long as it is in the original container and labeled with the camper’s name. The number of medications, both prescription and non, campers are bringing to camp is increasing so please try to limit these to those absolutely necessary. If your child can make it a week without the medicine, please leave it at home. All prescriptions, over-the-counter medications, and dietary supplements must be submitted to the healthcare staff in the original container at check-in. We have an ample supply of common over-the-counter medications that we can administer to campers as required, so it is not necessary to bring these.

In accordance with the ACA, all campers and staff members will wear properly fitting approved United States Coast Guard Personal Floatation Devices (PFD) at all times when participating in water based activities out of the Frontier Camp swim area. Inside the swim area, teen campers are not required to wear PFD’s and junior campers take a swim test on Sunday afternoons to determine whether they will need to wear one or not.

All junior campers will take a swim check at the lake on Sunday after check in. We understand that swimming in a lake can be a new experience for many campers. Therefore, if a camper is not satisfied with the outcome of his/her swim check, there will be an opportunity to re-check later in the camp week. Please remember that a re-check does not guarantee a change in their swimming classification.

Campers attending Teen Week² will be provided a laundry service at the end of the first week. There is no charge for this service. These campers need only pack 3 extra sets of clothes beyond the list provided in the what-to-bring list.

Frontier Camp has a facebook page, twitter stream and blog. We know many of our summer staff members, camper parents and even campers also have social media sites. One of the hallmarks of our ministry is helping campers establish relationships with Biblical role models that will inspire and encourage them, supporting the work that parents are investing into the lives of their kids. We have strict standards that govern all interactions at camp to protect our campers and staff, and insure healthy relationships during camp, and these extend outside of camp as well. Therefore we ask that if a camper requests a staffer to be a friend on Facebook or similar social networking sites, that permission from parents be granted before accepting these offers.