​Discovery Day Camp is a summer day camp for girls and boys ages 4-14 located in Indian Creek, IL (the Vernon Hills/Mundelein area). Our camp community experiences Adventure, Creative and Performing Arts, Swimming, Team and Individual Sports, Special Events, and so much more! At the core of everything we do, Discovery is a place where campers and staff feel safe, comfortable, and happy.

​The Owners/Directors of Discovery Day Camp are sisters, Sara and Laura. This makes Discovery both a family and female-owned and operated camp, which is a special and unique occurrence. We (Sara and Laura) are also moms of current campers, which lends another unique perspective to everything that we do. Additionally, Sara was a School Social Worker for 9 years and Laura is a licensed Architect.

​We spend basically our entire day outside! Everyone is also in the pool every single day. We are a well-rounded program where our campers enjoy a wide-variety of activities every week following a structured schedule. The emphasis in all activities is having fun while learning new skills. Campers also get to choose their activities one day each week (Choice Day) and then we spend another day each week enjoying theme-based activities (Special Event).

​We typically have about 250 campers and 65 Staff. Discovery Day Camp is truly a community. Our size allows the staff to know each other and every camper by name. It always provides us with the opportunity to get to know everyone who steps through our gates like a family.  

Discovery Day Camp has been providing a fantastic experience for campers since 1984. Our focus is creating an environment in which campers have fun while growing as individuals and as members of a group through participation in a wide variety of activities. Through the wide array of activities, events, and field trips offered, our program focuses on skill development, team building, sportsmanship, and an appreciation of the outdoors. Campers explore, learn, and grow while surrounded by encouragement, friendship, and acceptance. Our priority is making sure campers and staff feel safe, comfortable, and happy!

Sara and Laura took over ownership of Discovery Day Camp in 2016. They have been active members of ACA Illinois and continue to maintain accreditation by the ACA. Laura was recommended to the ACA Illinois Board of Directors for 2021! Discovery Day Camp’s membership began in 2000.

ACA Accreditation serves as an assurance to families and staff that our camp cares enough to submit to a transparent, thorough review of our entire operation. Our goal is to provide families and staff with as much information about our camp, to reassure your choice in a camp. Our voluntary participation in the professional development and accreditation process of the American Camp Association demonstrates our commitment to providing you and your camper with the best possible camp experience.

Thank you again for providing us with this fun and exciting opportunity to showcase Discovery!

Click here to join ACA Illinois as a camp member or to find out more about the Accreditation Program. If you would like to be featured in our Camp/Volunteer Spotlight contact Allie Boyaris.

by Allie Boyaris

Sue Apsey has been a long-time volunteer in the Accreditation program with us at the American Camp Association (ACA) Illinois. Before she retired, Sue worked as the Program Director with the American Diabetes Association (ADA). Sue I had been looking forward to visiting camps together with Sue in July of 2020, but when our visits were canceled because of the pandemic, I decided to connect with Sue on Zoom. I learned so much about her experiences working in Camp and volunteering with ACA Illinois over the years. I hope you enjoy hearing from Sue as much as I did!

​I’ve been a visitor for almost 30 years.

While I was working at Neighborhood House in Peoria, IL, I got involved with Gordie Kaplan, and Frank Lupton who started the Recreation program at Western Illinois University. Our director didn’t believe in a lot of training for our people and our staff, but Neighborhood House was a Title XX (camper funding) program and we had to be getting everything in order for Title XX (click here to learn more about the DFI Title XX Camping Services Program). Frank came to visit, Gordie came to visit. They came to Peoria, met with me, did things, et cetera, and I made it through my couple of summers there. 

The strange fluke that got me to Chicago was that Gordie insisted I come to Chicago for a Title XX meeting that was taking place at the office. The fluke was that, before that meeting, our second niece in Chicago had just been diagnosed with Diabetes. We had been up there in February - this is ‘91 - to help out because this was their second daughter so they were at the hospital with one daughter while we were home with the other. My sister-in-law was commenting, “They need a program director at the ADA (American Diabetes Association); they don’t know if they’ll have a conference because they don’t have a program director, and I know you could do that job!” 

After figuring out where to send my resume (because we didn’t have the internet or anything back then), I sent it in and then they called me to set up an interview. After my interview I went across the street to my meeting at ACA. The next day I got a call that said, “How fast can you move to Chicago?” So on April 1, 1991, I started at the ADA. The camp part of my job was overseeing accreditation that summer. 

Luckily, the ADA executive director at the time very much saw the advantage to networking through ACA. We had not only Triangle D (Camp) that I was working with, we also had teen camp, day camps, the “whole shoot-n-caboodle.” Some of my co-workers’ camp experience wasn’t as broad as mine, so the executive director supported my growing involvement and interest in ACA. Early on I asked, “Can I see what I can do there?” and he said, “Go for it!” Our offices were across the street, so it was easy to do. 

And in talking with Gordie, he said “You should become a visitor; that’s the way you’re going to learn more about camp.” I had my first visit probably by ‘92. In becoming a visitor and having that experience, I quickly realized how much I could learn from the visit. Not just in what I was seeing or paying attention to for the visit, but what I could learn from the other camp. That’s what’s kept me doing it all these years. There were a couple of years when I was running all of the camps and it always made me sad if I didn’t get to do any visits. And it really made me sad that visits weren’t happening last year (2020).

​For me, it’s always exciting to go into a different program and see how they do things. Sometimes I knew the director and staff, but sometimes I didn’t. I think it’s a really wonderful opportunity to be able to not only share what you know as you go through the process, but also try to figure out some of the more challenging standards and say, “Ok; how are we accomplishing this one?” 

You know, you’re working through it with your co-visitors, and you’re working through it with the people that are operating the camp. Those are always good discussions and opportunities to open your eyes to all the different kinds of challenges in all of our camp settings. It’s always interesting to be able to see how everybody positively and constructively works with what they have. 

​I’m always surprised by all of the new ideas that people come up with! Sometimes a new game, a twist on something, a craft;  it’s like “We never thought of that one!” However, I was never surprised by how dedicated people are. There are just some wonderful camp programs out there!

​One of the challenging things for myself, and I think for other visitors, is just the time; especially in the middle of our own camp programs. Unfortunately, you can be scheduled to go on a visit and, doggone, that day it’s all breaking loose at your camp! That was the hardest thing to work out sometimes: between the camp’s schedule and your schedule, finding a time that works for everyone can be challenging. 

​Right now, I’m focused on keeping myself healthy and spending time with people who are important to me. I have two grandsons, and for my birthday I gave myself the gift of going on a trip with both of them! The plan was to take the train all through the Canadian Rockies! We’ll have to postpone it until next year, but I’m really looking forward to it.

Walcamp is a Christian camp in northern Illinois that provides opportunities for children ages 5-17 and adults with special needs to explore nature and to grow physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. This is done through year round programs that include summer day camp and overnight options, multi-day school field trips for outdoor education, and space for groups to run retreats and events. ​

​Reading through the health guidelines provided by the CDC last summer, our state health department, and the ACA field guide, I was most surprised by how many of the precautions being asked of us were already in place. Because of the high standards of ACA Accreditation, I would often read something and think: “We are already doing that, we just have to do it more often now.” 

I was also surprised by our team and our guests. Everyone took the changes in stride, from extra cleaning duties to holding each other accountable to taking daily temperatures and maintaining safe distances in our groups. Our parents and campers adapted quickly as well, and met our new expectations with only a few questions, eager for the children to get outside and experience camp safely.

Keeping cabin areas clear of clutter has been an annual struggle for us. Last year, we provided our counselors and each camp group with “Loot Boxes” - large plastic bins with a lid to store personal belongings, sports equipment, and art supplies. We also required that parents bring a Loot Box for each of their children. The boxes are dropped off on Day One each week, and returned on the child’s last day of camp each week. This provides a consistent place for them to keep all their belongings contained - regardless of their organizational skills - while also giving the caregiver the opportunity to restock and rewash the camper’s belongings each weekend. Surprisingly, our Lost and Found last summer was down from 20 or more items in a week to 2 items over the course of four weeks. This may be an adaptation we hold onto for future summers.

To make the extra cleaning fun, our Director purchased several backpack lawn sprayers to fill with disinfectant. Several times a day our support staff (counselors not assigned to a camp group) competed for the privilege of “ghost-busting” our dining hall, restrooms and common areas. It greatly sped up the cleaning process without sacrificing thoroughness, and also turned a tedious process into a game.

The hardest adaptation was to restrict campers and team members to specific pods. Under normal conditions, I try to separate groups by ages and to assign our high school volunteers to different groups than their siblings. This year we are keeping family members together, which caused some camper-volunteer sibling rivalry at first and made choosing age-appropriate activities harder four our team; last week we had a group of 10-14 year olds while the one five-year old sibling tried to keep up. We have seen this age gap with groups of homeschool students during the school year, so we approached this challenge with a similar mentality. As the weeks went by, we saw older campers step-up to assist the younger ones, and siblings treating one another with some of the respect they give other campers. It was a process, and a great learning opportunity for the children.

​I was most nervous working through our worst-case scenarios. Our number one goal is the safety of our leaders and campers, and it was hard to brainstorm through each possibility without seeing the specific faces of campers that might be affected by a given situation or a new policy. I was also nervous at the end when we put our plans into action. What would parents-caregivers think? Were the changes too strict or too lenient? The hardest part of the process was choosing the lines for which demographics we could serve and which ones had needs beyond the services we can provide last year.

​The first question every parent asks is, “How will our team keep their child safe”. I expected more questions on specific guidelines or why a specific restriction was put in place. Instead, once the safety question was answered, our most common questions related to scheduling or to payments. We quickly added some flexibility to both answers, allowing campers to attend for two days consistently rather than a full consecutive week, or working out payment plans to help struggling families, in order to provide their children with the benefits of camp.

With everything that happened last summer, the question I was asked the most was, “When will we be re-opening our overnight camp programs?” Our day camp programs have always supplemented our larger summer sleep-away camp program, and many parents expressed their trust that we could keep their children safe - even when we did not know whether or not we could run an overnight program, and even though we had not published any guidelines for how any program changes would affect their experience if we were able run it. 

With all the questions we have been asked, the one question that has not been asked is whether or not we can keep our campers safe. We are asked “how” we will keep them safe, not “if” we are able to keep them safe. It is humbling to see the trust that our parents place in us, our team members and our camp.

​Overall, our parents and team members were understanding of the changes made. Once we decided on the new procedures we had to enforce, I worked with our director to determine how to best present them. We wrote things in a positive light whenever possible, using the “cannots” and restrictions only when we could not find a better way to say it. We included other team members when possible to encourage buy-in, especially when they were the ones asked to follow the new rules. In return, we were careful to maintain a positive approach when someone forgot to do something or made a mistake. There were a lot of changes last year, and while enforcing them I tried to keep the approach of a coach teaching the best practices for success, rather than a supervisor tearing them down for every infraction. I was also quick to self-correct my own mistakes publicly to show that I was learning the new rules with them, and that I was taking the situation as seriously as we asked them to take it.

The response in our area has been overwhelmingly positive. Parents are grateful for the chance to give their campers this experience away from home, a safe place for them to interact with other children again face-to-face instead of over video chat. To my knowledge we have only received one hostile comment; it was related to the first announcement that our day camp was open, a claim that we were being irresponsible from someone who had never visited the camp and who did not take the time to check our website to see all the extra safety precautions we put in place. More often we receive comments of how much this program benefited the children and helped the parents at a time when no other day camp options were available.

​The biggest change was that our counselors are in the same group, with the same campers, every week. I typically rotate team members in and out of the various groups, allowing each an equal turn with the campers, to balance the weeks of serving on “support staff” and to build team dynamics by serving with new team members. Last year we had regular groups, assigned partners, and two team members “floating” on support staff without groups of their own, because someone had to do the extra cleaning and keep our groups supplied with water and the other necessities the groups used to get on their own from a common location.

My role has changed, too. I handed off more responsibility to our summer leaders because my days are filled with adapting to communicating with parents, keeping current with changing guidelines, and discussing various adaptations as new situations arise. I often found myself saying, “We did not consider that scenario yet,” and then staring into space for a moment to run it through our lists of guidelines and recommendations before offering possible solutions.

​The children adapted well to the new changes. The younger ones require additional reminders throughout the day to keep their distance or to wear their masks when they move indoors. They understand the changes least of all, but as a whole everyone has accepted that this is what we have to do in order to enjoy camp, and they were quick to add the changes into their routines.

​For me, the most rewarding parts of opening our day camp was seeing the excitement of our campers at the opportunity to play outside again. It was watching a team member cheerfully ask what else needs to be done after four weeks without their own campers, simply because they are able to be at camp and to serve. It was the joy in a parent’s eyes listening to their child’s stories of what they did each day. It was seeing campers return each week and watching them grow physically, mentally, spiritually and socially as they spend time with their friends in nature.

​My advice for running programs this summer is to stay flexible and to take things one step at a time. As plans change - sometimes weekly or daily- do not regret the things you cannot do this year or the need to run things differently. ​Focus on what you can do within the safety guidelines. Take this chance to seek out new opportunities to grow and to meet the needs of your campers, and do not hurry to bring back the favorite traditions and activities you have postponed. Start with what you can do, look out for the safety of your campers, and find new ways to serve them. Include your summer staff in the procedure making. I worked with our director to develop new policies, but I also worked with our team members - our leadership team, the summer counselors, cooks, cleaning teams, office and maintenance staff - to find the best way to carry out those policies. We said they have to clean X times a day, but they decided the best times each day to do that. 

We broke our program to its core ideals: 1) the campers are safe, 2) the campers are outside whenever possible, and 3) the campers’ activities have a purpose and are not just time fillers. I then set the boundaries for what makes a game or activity safe or unsafe and gave our team members the freedom to decide which ones they would lead and how to adapt their activities to fit within those guidelines. As we say on the challenge course: “Methods are many, principles are few. Methods often change but principles seldom do.”

While it might be hard to believe right now, there will be time to bring back your camp favorites once you know it can be done without risk to your campers or team members. You are important to your campers and their families. This season will pass, and you will be stronger when you reach the other side.

Thank you for the positive feedback on our Monthly Members Meeting: Updates from the ACA Illinois Leadership! Members have reported that these monthly touchpoints allow them to hear directly from the Association’s leadership about current initiatives, projects, updates, and news in real-time. We invite you to attend our meeting on May 20, 2021, which will serve as our final meeting of the fiscal year. 

You’ll see that we have added next year’s dates to the current meeting event in our registration system. This means if you are already registered, you won’t need to register again as we’ve already taken care of that for you! If you haven’t registered, click here to do so. 

Next year’s dates can be found here. Mark your calendar so you don’t miss the most current and important updates from your favorite Association!

On March 12, 2021, ACA Illinois hosted our Annual Meeting. After having to cancel our Annual Meeting around this time in 2020, we were excited to be able to get our Membership together to share the service ACA Illinois was able to provide over the last year, highlight some incredible people in the community, and celebrate what is ahead for our Association.


To start the meeting we acknowledged our wish to celebrate the life of Marcy Brower by dedicating this annual meeting to her memory. Marcy was pivotal in creating change within ACA related to desegregation and LGBTQ inclusion; she was also the powerhouse behind the Mid States Camp Conference. Marcy made the world a better place in all that she did and we hope to continue her legacy by continuing to create change through our work in camp. 


Thank you to all who were able to attend; we appreciate your presence! And if you weren’t able to make it, check out the main highlights below:

• In 2020, ACA Illinois served 7,475 camp professionals throughout our various professional development, accreditation and membership programs, resulting in over 14,500 learning hours collectively. We hosted pros from more than 35 states, as well as internationally, including: Belgium, China, Nigeria, Turkey, Spain and more.
• The Standards Committee shared updates on visits for the upcoming year (2021) and shared a thanks to all the volunteers who make the accreditation program possible. The Standards Program has been directly impacted by COVID and the flexibility and resilience of the Accreditation community has been incredible!
• The Membership Committee was excited to share the launch of the Young Professionals Board, which has begun engaging new members and in the beginning stages of leadership structure and development.
• The Government Relations Committee, which was activated in 2020, were able to secure informative meetings with both state leadership and legislators. They distributed an Economic Impact Survey to Illinois camps to capture the impact of the pandemic on camps. The information gathered in the survey formed the basis for our Camp is Essential Campaign that helped share the message of how critical camp is to the economy, Illinois parents and families, and to the larger Illinois community overall.

We were also able to recognize some incredible people with organizational awards who have served ACA Illinois with a generous heart, including: 

• Special Recognition Award, Margy Moore, former Conference Director for the former Pheasant Run Resort.
• Distinguished Service Award, Michael Brandwein, Speaker/Author/Educator/Volunteer.
• Emerging Professional Awards, Shauna Guglielmo, Lincoln Park Zoo Camp; and Stacy Harper, American Camp Association, Illinois.
• Honor Award, Hanna O’Toole, YMCA Barry County Camp Algonquin.

We were also fortunate to be joined by Speaker/Author/Educator/Volunteer extraordinaire, Michael Brandwein, who shared some incredibly thoughtful encouragement during our meeting closing to send us into another year.



As always, check out our upcoming events on our Upcoming Events & Trainings Calendar, or other Event Recaps at our blog In the Loop. Interested in joining the Young Professionals Board? Contact Kim Steiner or Gwyn Emigh for more information.