Building Character, Resilience, & Connection: Parents Report Back on the 2025 Summer

For many, Camp Tawonga is a Jewish home – where they build self-esteem, cultivate lifelong friendships, and try new things outside their comfort zone.

In our 100th year, we welcomed 1,369 summer campers and remained committed to our mission: providing a haven where kids unplug, practice healthy independence, build cooperative community, connect with nature, and develop spirituality and positive Jewish identity.

Our intentions turned to impacts.

The results of our 2025 summer camp family survey, conducted by the Foundation for Jewish Camp, confirm what we experienced firsthand. Mark Sass of Summation Research Group stated, “Tawonga is one of the most exceptionally ranked camps of the 102 North American Jewish Camps that participate.”

Here’s what our families had to say:

Survey Results

98% of families say their child felt a sense of belonging and had a positive camp experience

96% say that Tawonga created an environment that helped their child experience growth and try new things

96% of families say they would recommend Camp Tawonga to their friends or family members

Camper Support: Over 94% of families say that Tawonga helped their child build character, build friendships, and try new things. 96% say that Tawonga fostered an environment that supported their child’s emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. Respondents also praised the quality of the summer counselors, including their attentiveness to campers and ability to support mental, emotional, and social needs throughout the session.

Leadership, Safety, and Communication: Our programmatic directors have a combined 100+ summers under their belts. Our team’s communicativeness and proactive leadership received a 97% rating. Whether it be a message about a forgotten retainer or blog post about Earth Day, our staff is committed to camper well-being, and part of that includes being in contact with our camp families while continuing to instill a shared philosophy that “no news is good news”. 

We work year-round to prepare for the summer season – this work includes evaluation and refinement of our safety plans and protocols. Thanks to our dedicated team, ongoing preparations, and strong partnerships with Tuolumne County and Stanislaus emergency services organizations, we have extremely strong safety measures in place, which is reflected in our 96% rating from our 2025 families.

Jewish Life: 93% of our families say that Tawonga helped their child connect to Jewish people and the broader Jewish Community. Tawonga’s Jewish programming fosters an environment of Jewish pride. We achieve this through a variety of programming – from all-camp Shabbat celebrations, torah service and ruach hour (Jewish learning), to unique programming such as celebrating every Jewish holiday in one hour and cooking fresh Israeli food in our new Garden Kitchen. We are proud to work with a small cohort of staff, or shlichim, who come from Israel every summer – they enhance our Jewish programming and help campers build a deeper understanding of Israeli culture.

Unplug in Nature: The Tawonga community values connecting with the natural world, whether by means of skygazing on a starry night on a backpacking trip or learning about the ecosystem that lives in our Camp lake and building a lily pad slip-and-slide. 95% of our families gave high rankings to our outdoor adventure activities, saying that the programming helped their child gain new skills.

In Their Own Words

See what families directly shared with us:

• “Camp provided my child opportunities to connect with other Jewish kids in a physically and emotionally safe environment. By fostering independence and encouraging kids to connect to the experience of camp, my child came home energized and more adept at advocating for herself and her community.”
• “We’re not associated with a synagogue and look for programs like Tawonga to enhance our kid’s Jewish identity and connection. The fact that he came home saying prayers in Hebrew and singing made us so happy.”
• “Our daughter LOVED the backpacking trip! Each kid had a role that contributed to the group (ie carrying different group-use items) and this gave her a sense of purpose. Sleeping under the stars connected her to nature and the physical challenge of the hike connected her to herself.” 
• “I love that there was a good counselor to camper ratio. Our child’s counselor sent a postcard letting us know how our kiddo was doing and it was very much appreciated. The staff are well trained and engaged!”
• “Genuinely, I am saying this as someone who works in the communications field – everything about Camp Tawonga’s communications is stellar. They provide all the information you need without inundating you, the website is easy to navigate, instructions are clear and simple, and the staff is super responsive. Well done!”

We could not be more proud of the community we created together in 2025.

Ready to experience the magic? 2026 registration is open! Explore year-round programming for kids, teens, and adults.