School of Medicine

Camp Tiger a Virtual Success!

Thomas Luke, Class of 2024
SGA L2 VP of Community Affairs
Director, Day with the Docs
Director, Camp Tiger

 

Each year, the first-year class of medical students at LSUHSC New Orleans hosts Camp Tiger, a free week-long summer camp for children with disabilities. Camp Tiger has been staffed by rising second-year and incoming first-year medical students for more than 30 years. These future doctors have thoroughly enjoyed spending their first week of summer with such amazing campers, and my class has finally taken our turn to make Camp Tiger our own.

I'm incredibly honored to be this year's Camp Tiger Director. It's a huge undertaking, especially this year: the Camp Tiger Auction and Benefit, our main source of funding, moved to an online format rather than an in-person event and Camp Tiger needed to be redesigned as a virtual camp experience for the last week of May.

Devastatingly, Camp Tiger was cancelled last summer, so my class and I promised to bring Camp Tiger back this year in some shape or form. Even though Camp Tiger was virtual this year, I am beyond proud of what my committee and I put on this summer. It was 100% our own camp, uninfluenced by what Camp Tiger looked like in the past.

The week of Camp Tiger started with a “Camper Car Parade” where the excited campers were greeted with balloons, posters, music, and a personalized “Activity Kit” filled with their supplies for the entire week: toys, crafts, games, snacks, t-shirts, and more. For the rest of the week, the kids had a large group and small group activity each day via Zoom. The video-based large group activities were exciting! We learned what it takes to be an astronaut with Infinity Science Center, connecting to our outer space theme. We met several zoo animals through the Audubon Zoo, including a three-legged gopher tortoise. On Thursday, we learned a dance with a few NFL cheerleaders, a favorite of many of the campers. We finished the week with a Magic Show through Crescent Circus, where we even learned a magic trick for ourselves. 

Our asynchronous small group activities allowed our campers to still have the opportunity to play and interact with kids their age and for our awesome counselors to have more personalized time to get to know their campers. They made arts and crafts, had outer space-themed snacks, sang karaoke, and so much more! A positive aspect of the virtual format was that we had the opportunity to make Camp Tiger flexible and accessible to kids across the state, not just from New Orleans. We hope to continue this option for campers that we have to turn away because of the high application rate for in-person Camp Tiger.
 
This Camp Tiger has meant so much to me personally over the last year, and it was incredibly rewarding to bring it back to the kids who have been waiting for almost two years to have Camp Tiger again. These children are so often overlooked by the community, and there are very few summer camps for kids with disabilities. Camp Tiger celebrates them and prioritizes their experience. Lastly, it's free of charge! The families don't have to worry about paying for this awesome week of fun activities, so please consider donating through the LSU Foundation today (https://give.lsuhealthfoundation.org/camptiger). Geaux Camp Tiger!