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Corte Madera reports rising participation and scholarships at Camp Corte Madera
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Summary
Parks and Recreation staff told the commission the town’s summer day camp ran June 23–Aug. 8, served ages 5–12, awarded 10 scholarships totaling over $18,000, and specialty camps served 532 youth, up from 451 last year.
Parks and Recreation staff on Sept. 29 presented a recap of the 2025 summer season for Camp Corte Madera and related specialty camps, reporting higher enrollment, expanded specialty offerings and continued scholarship support.
The town’s program coordinator, Sydney Bliss, said Camp Corte Madera ran from June 23 through Aug. 8 for children ages 5 to 12 at the Neil Cummins childcare buildings, offering flexible daily registration, indoor and outdoor games, pool days, field trips and special events. Staff said the camp continued a counselors-in-training (CIT) mentorship program for ages 13 to 15 and that scholarships made the program more accessible: 10 students received scholarships totaling more than $18,000, funded in part by the Corte Madera Women’s Improvement Club and the Corte Madera Lions Club.
Specialty camps expanded beyond core camp programming, Bliss said, including kindergarten readiness, dance, carpentry, skateboarding, art, Dungeons & Dragons and seven weeks of tennis; the department also ran engineering camps and sports programs through the National Academy of Athletics. Staff reported 532 youth participants across specialty camps this summer, up from 451 the previous year and 385 the year before.
Bliss credited returning and new contractors and praised the summer staff and volunteers. She noted the supervised lunch program that allowed families to combine morning and afternoon specialty camps on the same site and highlighted field trips to AMF Bowling, the Exploratorium, Scandia and Rebounders as program highlights. The presentation also noted positive parent survey feedback praising registration flexibility and instruction quality.
Commissioners asked for more exact counts on CIT participation and staffing; Bliss said she did not have exact numbers at the meeting but estimated roughly 15–20 CIT applications and said many CITs rotate through multi-week commitments. Commissioners praised the department for recruiting CITs into staff roles; staff said three or four staff members this year had previously been CITs.
No public commenters spoke on the item during the meeting; staff closed public comment after stating no raised hands and no emailed comments specific to this presentation.
