Mission & Values

Camp Settoga engages children through experiences that help build, support, and reinforce a positive personal identity, strong peer relationships, quality skill development in athletics and the arts, and a powerful sense of community responsibility, all while enabling campers and their parents to forge pathways into a meaningful Jewish life.

We celebrate Jewish life in vibrant, upbeat and energetic ways all summer long! Each week features a theme grounded in our core values. Our Values Squad works with camp staff and specialists to integrate these themes into all of our programs and activities. Each Friday, we have special Shabbat celebrations, in which bunks lead songs and stories to share their experiences from the week. Our campers bake challah over the campfire, talk about the week coming to a close, and discuss their hopes for the week ahead, truly immersing the camp in the spirit of Shabbat!

We take immense pride in allowing and encouraging our campers to play active roles in the creation of their communities, from individual bunks to the Settoga family as a whole. Learning how to build community is an invaluable life skill, and we strive to lay this foundation at camp.

Settoga is the perfect setting for experiencing wonder, and we believe that the process of inquiry, driven by curiosity, is at the heart of our daily interactions.

While the days at camp are full of exciting activities, we also take time to cherish what happens between them. Camp provides the perfect backdrop to learning about practicing a new skill many times over, waiting your turn, and simply slowing down to allow a friend to catch up.

We seek to create a culture of gratitude by regularly expressing appreciation to our counselors, specialists and peers, as well as working to acknowledge a deeper appreciation for each other as we build a camp community together.

Camp is a place where campers and staff alike are able to be their best selves. There are countless opportunities for individual growth and success, highlighted by communal celebration. By encouraging all members of our community to try new things in a safe and supportive environment, we cultivate each person’s belief in themselves.

For many campers, camp is their first experience away from their home and families, which serves as an excellent opportunity to develop a sense of personal responsibility – from looking after their own belongings and picking up trash to experiencing what it means to be a responsible member of a community.

We seek to provide opportunities to promote creativity both within and outside of our activity areas, from holding “Open Mic” sessions at our morning Flagpole to allowing our older campers to use electives to personalize their weekly schedules.

In many ways, camp can be viewed as a long-term, immersive education experience in leadership. Through their summers at Settoga, campers grow into leaders by serving as role models for their younger peers and counselors hone their leadership skills as they lead their campers. Our Leadership Team includes a number of former counselors.

Enthusiasm, energy, and positivity are Settoga hallmarks, and this will be evident from your first visit. Our staff and campers bring so much energy to the day that at times it seems as if each activity is the high point of the summer. This energy translates into eager participation and self-motivated learning from staff and campers alike. Your child will leave Settoga with incredible memories, meaningful friendships, and a new place to call home.

Camp Settoga is a place for growth and development. A Settoga moment is a way to acknowledge and highlight a moment in time that illustrates personal growth, overcoming an obstacle, achieving a goal, or any positive individual experience that happens in camp. Our Settoga moments board at the center of camp is a prized way of sharing a personal moment of growth with our Settoga community at large. Settoga moments can happen anywhere at any time, so don’t hesitate to share your child’s Settoga moments with us well after the summer ends!