PHOTOS COURTESY OF CAMP PEGASUS, LIVING CLASSROOMS FOUNDATION AND TIC CAMPS
Camp Pegasus
Living Classrooms
Foundation Camp Pegasus
Benefits of
SUMMER 10 Washington FAMILY FEBRUARY 2022



Summer camps
around the
mid-Atlantic region
offer inclusive and
fun programming
for kids
BY LAURA FARMER
A s the chilly winds of winter blow
through the mid-Atlantic region,
many of us long for the sunny days
of summer. For our kids, it’s not only the
warmer weather that boosts summer’s
appeal. They look forward to swapping
school days for pool days at summer camp.

Attending summer camps has long been
a part of the quintessential childhood
experience. And happily, the variety of summer
camps available in our region are as varied as
our children’s interests, offering everything
from outdoor adventures and musical
theater to coding, art and cooking-focused
camps. Children reap a host of benefits
from attending such camps, such as
learning new skills, developing a new
hobby and making new friends.

THE SUMMER CAMP SEARCH
TIC Camps
Special Needs
CAMPS Children with special needs, too, can find
summer camp to be an especially valuable
experience. Sometimes, however, finding an
inclusive environment that supports your
child’s unique needs requires some searching.

“I found that summer was a time of great
struggle for the children I worked with in the
therapy office,” says Mike Fogel, MA, ATR-BC,
LPC. Fogel is an art therapist with 27 years
of clinical experience who also founded and
serves as executive director of Camp Pegasus, a
day camp located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania,
that focuses on social skills training. “Kids
would get kicked out of camp because it wasn’t
a good fit, or they had power struggles with
parents because they were anxious and didn’t
want to go to camp. For many of these kids,
camp felt overwhelming to them because it
wasn’t tailored to their needs.”
The community need prompted Fogel to
found Camp Pegasus, which celebrates its 10th
anniversary this year.

Kelly Presnell, outreach and inclusion director
for the YMCA of Frederick County, found a
similar lack of resources in her community.

WashingtonFAMILY.com 11