Cabin requests are an awesome way to send your camper to camp with friends – friends from home or camp friends from last year (the best!) – but are definitely not a requirement!
A camper can request up to two friends to be with them in a cabin, which can be really great, especially for first-time campers. Your camper may rest a little easier knowing there could be a friend in their cabin. And, as a parent, it totally gives me some relief knowing my campers and their friends can be together.
Once these requests are made, the Cabin Placement Coordinators at Ozark work tirelessly trying to honor these requests…as you can imagine, it gets pretty complicated! Camp Ozark values the special memories friends can make together at camp and understands having a friend to lean on while braving the new adventures of camp is comforting.
So, how does it work? How can I get a guarantee that my cabin requests will be honored? Well… you can’t. I’m sorry. I wish I could say it would be guaranteed, but there is a list of criteria that Camp Ozark follows to keep cabins balanced.
A BALANCED CABIN AT CAMP OZARK
- Campers in the same cabin should be no more than 12 months apart in age.
- No more than four campers from the same school or social group will be placed in the same cabin.
- Two-week campers do not live in the same cabin with one-week campers.
- Cabin requests must be mutual (made by both campers).
- Cabin requests must be made no later than two weeks before the session begins.
Why such a detailed list, you might ask? Let’s walk through it.
- Your camper’s cabin is central to Camp Ozark experience. Camp has found that that campers thrive best while living with kids their own age, sharing similar maturity levels, life experiences and education levels.
- When a cabin has too many campers from the same school or social group, it can be a hurdle to new friendships and can make it more challenging for campers who did not come with a friend group.
- Cabin relationships are a big part of what makes Camp Ozark so special. Ozark doesn’t mix the one-week and two-week camper experience, because it would be disruptive to have some campers leave after the first week and new campers arrive for the second week.
- Due to the large number of cabin requests Camp Ozark receives, both campers must request each other to be considered for the Cabin Placement Coordinators to work on the request.
- Believe it or not – cabin assignments are completed two weeks before the campers arrive! Last-minute requests cannot be accommodated.
Now, this list impacts cabin requests in many ways, but it’s important to remember that there are even factors outside this list that may affect camper cabin placements.
So, if you know that your camper will have their best experience living with a friend in the same cabin, be sure to make that request on your myOzark dashboard, or in writing via email to campozark@campozark.com. Discuss this plan with the family you are requesting, so you can coordinate and confirm it will be a mutual request. And remember, the sooner, the better!
ONE MORE IMPORTANT NOTE! If your camper does not plan on attending with a friend, have no fear! Tons of campers journey to Camp Ozark every year without a cabin request and have the time of lives making new camp friends they will want to see again next year!
