Our mission is to transform boys into men by building confidence, and independence, while providing opportunities to learn core life skills. We accomplish this mission through our culture and community which is fueled by a caring, empathetic, well trained, and homegrown staff. Our program provides opportunities for your son to learn core life lessons through sports. Together between the culture, community, and program we create lifelong memories and build a network of friendships that spans across all ages and geographies.

Located in the beautiful Northwoods of Wisconsin, in Eagle River. Camp Ojibwa sits on a picture perfect peninsula along Catfish Lake. Our summer mailing address is 4040 Ojibwa Drive, Eagle River Wisconsin. Our Winter Mailing address is 1195 Somerset Ave, Deerfiled, IL 60015.

Camp Ojibwa is ACA Accredited and follows the guidelines to maintain our accreditation each year. It is important to maintain our ACA Accredited status to ensure our families that we are maintaining the standards and practices to operate a safe and effective overnight camp program.

Camp is run by our Owners/Directors, Ross and Linsey Friedman, and by our additional Director, Joel Losoff.

Year over year, Camp Ojibwa is able to hire staff who were former campers. 95% of our staff have over 3 years of Ojibwa experience. This is important because it allows us to create that feeling of home, from the second the boys step off the bus. Our staff’s understanding of our facility, program, and each other give our campers a feeling of brotherhood and connection from day 1. Most of our staff were in your son’s shoes so they understand what it feels like to be new at Ojibwa and they also understand what our Ojibwa family is all about.

We have campers from across the United States including IL, WI, MI, NY, FL, CA, TX, MO, CO. In addition we have campers who come from India, Japan, Israel and Belize.

The cabin arrangement at Camp Ojibwa is unique and absolutely contributes to the brotherhood that is cultivated here. Twelve of our cabins form a semi-circle around our main campus softball field. This configuration encourages our campers to funnel together and creates a unique communal environment where friendships are built across all ages. It is not uncommon to find boys from different age groups playing catch, spikeball, football, etc. or simply hanging out together.

We follow the ACA recommendation of 4:1 and in almost every instance, each of our cabins exceeds those expectations. In our cabins, we hire 4-6 staff and have cabins of 10-20 campers. We require staff to be present in the cabins when the campers are scheduled to be in the cabin.

We are proud to be a screen-free environment. Campers are allowed to bring music playing and/or reading devices as long as they do not contain any other applications or messaging capabilities. While campers do not have access to communication devices, they are encouraged to write letters home. Parents, guardians, friends and family may choose to write letters to the boys and can now also email them through CampMinder and we will print and distribute.

Campers are allowed to request three friends, one of which we will guarantee. While we know and want campers to remain with their friends, new relationships are one of the best takeaways from the Camp Ojibwa experience!

We take great pride in our facilities and equipment. We maintain our court surfaces to have a safe playing environment and continue to evolve our facilities. We recently resurfaced our three Trail Tennis Courts to become multi-functional turf surfaces which can be used for tennis, volleyball, soccer, football, and many other sports and activities. In-ground Tramp-Ball has been installed as well and is an extremely popular spot for campers and counselors of all ages.

Please contact Ross and Linsey  to schedule a tour this summer. Tours are available any day between June 6th – August 19th.

Camp Ojibwa was one of the first camps to implement a nut-free policy. We handle our dietary restrictions/allergies with the utmost care. We coordinate our medical, kitchen and leadership teams to ensure that all allergies, dietary restrictions and other food-related health needs are met with no exceptions!

You can visit this page of the website, or email info@campojibwa.com. You may also call at (312) 961-3262.

Please visit this link to be directed to CampMinder to enroll for our Father & Son, Two Week, Four Week, Six Week, or Eight Week Session.

Camp Ojibwa has a dedicated Health Center where campers know they can find medical support, emergency care, daily medications and comfort when they are ill or injured. We employ a qualified nursing staff that is supported throughout the entire summer by a rotation of visiting medical specialists. In addition, we have a dedicated pediatrician “on call” at all times through our telehealth support system.  Medical team members are on-call 24/7 for the entire camp season.

Medications are collected at the bus or upon arrival at camp and stored in the Health Center for the duration of the summer. The Medical team administers medications 4 times a day (after breakfast, lunch, dinner, and before bed) from the Health Center. Refills or additional medications can be sent up to camp or refilled by our local pharmacy as needed.

The camp experience can offer many great opportunities as well as challenges for your son. We do prepare and train our staff to identify if/when challenges arise, and how to help their campers navigate through those challenges. Ultimately, your son will come home with more independence, confidence, and self-esteem. To ensure that he has a successful summer, it is important to have in-depth discussions preparing him for his summer. Here is a list of topics that we recommend:

• Self advocacy – If he is in need or he thinks something is wrong, it is always advised and encouraged that he say something.

• Communicate to him that it is ALWAYS OK to talk to his counselors and/or the Directors.

• Explain that homesickness is not a sign of weakness and is normal! Remind him that he can be homesick and still have fun!

• Just like at home, bullying is unacceptable. Please review what it means both to be bullied and to be a bully. Share with him that Camp Ojibwa will not allow either.

• Communal living is new to many campers. Discuss what it means to share space with others, how to respect other people’s property and how to contribute to a positive culture.

At Camp Ojibwa, our program is focused around league play where all of the campers are placed onto teams in order to participate in various sports. For each sport, we have developed rules that allow for a fair and balanced game. We have score-out rules, time of play requirements for every player, and trading policies that can be utilized if the teams are unbalanced. We encourage the campers to have fun, play hard, and uphold the Ojibwa Way of kindness, respect, fairplay and trustworthiness. All of our leagues and activities are coached and officiated by our highly trained staff, and are overseen by league commissioners to ensure that campers and staff are learning and reaping the benefits of fun competition. Because campers at Ojibwa have a huge range of skills in various sports, we offer a controlled environment where competition is used to develop and nurture valuable life skills regardless of individual athleticism.

Every week, our Director of Overnights and Adventure Trips takes a group of campers for an overnight trip. They leave via Pontoon boat, and head towards Scattering Rice lake, via the chain of lakes. Once there, the campers and staff unload the boat, and begin to set up camp. They enjoy an evening filled with incredible campfire cooking, storytelling and bonding with their fellow campers and staff. It is an unforgettable experience. All overnight trips are included and offered at no additional fee.

Laundry Service is provided at least 1 time per week. It is picked up at camp and returned 1-2 days later. All of the clothes are laundered and folded when returned to the campers. We do recommend purchasing Ojibwa laundry bags from the camp store to help prevent any lost clothing.