Camp Christopher

Cabin Assignments & Cabin Mate Requests

Camp Christopher seeks to provide safe and comfortable cabin assignments for all campers. 

Cabin Assignments

While children may be at varying developmental stages, age is a good indicator of a camper’s skills and maturity. To give campers the best chance of success when away from home, we cluster campers whose ages are within a range of a few years from one another into cabins together. By clustering the campers by age, they have the opportunity to develop meaningful relationships with peers with whom they are likely to share common interests, have similar abilities and skills, and have acquired similar developmental assets.

There are three settlements of cabins at Camp Christopher. The Lower Settlement, which usually hosts primarily male campers, is the closest to the entrance, and the cabins are named after Catholic Martyrs. The Middle Settlement is just past Lake Marion and is named after explorers. And the Upper Settlement is the furthest down the road and is named after Catholic Bishops. Both the Middle and Upper Settlements usually host female campers.

We assign campers to cabins based on gender and age. Typically, the male cabins will hold campers youngest to oldest in the following order*:

• Anthony Daniel (AD)
• Rene Goupil (RG)
• Kateri Tekawitha (KT)
• Isaac Jogues (IJ)
• John Bosco (JBO)
• Oscar Romero (OR)

The female cabins will typically hold campers youngest to oldest in the following order*:

• St. Teresa
• Elizabeth Ann Seton (EAST)
• Kutz Lodge (KL)
• Junipero Serra (JS)
• Ponce DeLeon (PD)
• Hernando Desoto (HD)
• Lord Baltimore (LB)
• John Carroll (JC)
• James Gibbons (JG)
• Old James Gibbons (OJG)

* If there is an unusual spread of ages or other unusual circumstances, the cabins may be rearranged to host campers in an alternate pattern.

Campers are assigned to cabins based on chronological age. We attempt to keep campers within a few years or less range of age within a cabin. As an example, if there are 103 male campers scheduled to attend the same week, the youngest 24 will be placed in cabin AD, the next 24 will be placed in cabin RG, the next 24 will be placed into cabin KT, the next 24 will be placed into cabin IJ, and the final seven will be placed in cabin JBO. This same process would apply to female cabins.

There is no set age to be in any cabin—it is strictly dictated by the chronological ages of those campers who are registered each week. We accept campers ages 7-16. Some weeks have many children on the younger end of that spectrum, while others have the opposite composition. We accept cabin mate requests, but we do not accept cabin requests.

Requests for Changes to Cabin Assignments

During Sunday check-in, campers will receive their cabin assignment for the week. This is the official cabin assignment of the camper. Parents may request a change of the camper’s cabin assignment through the Program Coordinators on duty. Cabin counselors are not authorized to change cabin assignments. These changes may only be approved and authorized by the Program Coordinators. Although we will try our best to accommodate these changes, there is no guarantee that your requests can be granted. Due to the popularity of our resident camp program, our ability to accommodate requested changes to cabin assignments may be very limited.

Cabin Mate Requests 

Campers may request up to two cabin mates on the Resident Camp application. Camp Christopher will make every effort to honor requests but cannot guarantee cabin placement. Cabin mates are assigned by age and gender, and some requests may be denied. Cabin assignments are done the day before campers arrive. Older campers may request to be with younger campers as long as the age difference is within two years. Younger campers are not usually moved to a cabin of older campers. All cabin mate requests must be made at the time of application. The request must be reciprocated by the other camper for it to be considered. When a cabin mate request is honored, it means the two campers will be in the same cabin, not necessarily in the same room within that cabin. Bunks are chosen on a first come, first served basis, and bunks may not be saved. Please remember that one of camp’s greatest benefits is the development of NEW friendships.

Caregivers should consider requesting to move an older child into a younger cabin, as this may place greater limitations on the older child’s activities throughout the week. For example, at age 13, campers are eligible to participate in the high ropes course, which is scheduled by cabin. But when a 13-year-old camper is placed into a cabin of 10-year-olds, the 13-year-old will follow the schedule of that cabin, he/she will not experience the high ropes that summer.