SLC has a special sense of community you can’t find anywhere else.
– SLC Camper
Summer Communications
Surprise Lake Camp offers lots of ways for you to stay in touch with your child and their activities all summer!
News & Updates
- You will received a weekly email update each Friday from the head of your camper’s unit.
- We will be posting videos on the SLC YouTube channel throughout the summer and year round. Please follow SLC on social media, as well!
- You can look for photos on the Campanion app or through your Camp-in-Touch account.
- Throughout the year, we post articles on Lake Views blog.
Postal Mail
Sending Mail
We urge you to start mailing letters about a week before camp begins, so that your child receives mail right away. Address letters to:
CAMPER NAME, UNIT NAME (or Mainside / Teenside if you don’t know the unit name)
Surprise Lake Camp
382 Lake Surprise Road
Cold Spring, NY 10516
Our package policy for summer 2024 will be announced before the summer starts.
Camper Photos & Emails
Campanion App
SLC strives to bring parents closer to their camper’s experience, and this summer we’re using an amazing new app called Campanion to do just that. The best things about it? It helps with all of your pre-camp preparations, and you get fun updates and photos of your camper right on your phone. Campanion makes you feel closer to your camper’s experience than ever before.
- To get started, follow these simple steps:
- Download the Campanion app
- Use your CampInTouch Account email address and password to log in
- Complete forms online and upload completed paperwork right in the app
- Upload a training photo of your child, which enables the app to send you photos of your
camper over the summer. - Ensure you have push notification enabled within your phone settings so you can receive
important updates from camp all year long! - We’ll be sharing photos all summer long, and Campanion’s facial recognition technology
automatically searches for campers and tags them for you to view in the app. This saves you
time sifting through hundreds of photos.
Photos on Campanion
Once you’ve logged in, you’ll see an option to upload a training photo of your child. This enables the technology to identify your campers and receive notifications whenever they appear in camp photos. You need to upload a new training photo to make sure the app is searching for the most accurate images of your camper, even if you used Campanion last summer, If you choose not to opt in, you can still find photos of your kids the old -fashioned way by viewing photos in your CampInTouch account. See instructions below.
E-Letters on Campanion
Campanion makes sending letters easier than ever. Using the Letters feature in the app, you’ll be able to write emails to your camper as often as you want. We’ll also upload handwritten replies/messages from your camper, which you can read right in the app.
CampInTouch
CampInTouch is used for all form submissions and to help you feel connected with your camper all summer. If you choose not to use the Campanion app, you can still view photos on CampInTouch.
- Your account was set up when you submitted your enrollment application.
- If you do not remember your password, click on the ‘Retrieve/Set password’ link.
- Enter the same email address you used when registering for camp. *Note – if you enter a
different email address, you will not be able to log in. - Click “Send E-mail.” You will then be notified by CampMinder that a link has been sent to
your email. You must access this link from your email within 1 hour. - After clicking on the link, you will be directed to the “Security Update” page where you must
provide 2 security questions and answers. - Set and confirm your new password and agree to the terms of service.
- You will now be logged in to your account!
- If you forget your password at any point throughout the summer, you will be able to retrieve
it through the same process, as outlined above.
Lost your password? Please visit this page and click on the link “Lost Your Password?” You will receive an email with your username and password within a few minutes.
Phone Calls
If your child will celebrate a birthday at camp, we can pre-arrange a time for your child to call you from the camp office.
Otherwise, the only situations in which we permit phone calls are to help solve a problem or when a camper is sick .
This policy is standard at most sleepaway camps.
Questions or Concerns
Each side of camp (Mainside and Teenside) is led by a Division Head and two Head Counselors (one of whom focuses on camper support). Each camper unit is led by an experienced Unit Supervisor.
At any point if you have questions or concerns about your camper please feel free to call our main office (845-265-3616), let our staff know your camper’s name and we will put you directly in touch with one of theses members of our senior staff.
For minor, logistical and / or issues that are not time sensitive you can send an email to these members of senior staff at either:
These emails are not checked until the start of the summer session:
