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VIDBE-Q Volume 62 Issue 3
The Loudest Week of the Year
The last week of June is loud at Leader Dogs for the Blind. Well, to clarify, it is loud and
fun—and we love it! For 51 weeks of the year, the average age of our clients is 49 years old,
so the Summer Experience Camp week when we host 16- and 17-year-olds breathes fresh air
throughout our campus.
Summer Experience Camp originated in July of 2007 when three high school students
arrived at Leader Dog's campus to learn how to use a Trekker GPS. The five-day program
focused on teaching the students, and their teachers who accompanied them, how to use the
Trekker GPS to expand their travel environment. By 2009, the program had grown to 11
campers per summer. So we told the teachers
to stay home, and we added a lot of new "fun
stuff" to the program (canoeing, fishing, rock
wall climbing, tandem biking).
Erica Ihrke,
COMS Manager of Extended Services,
Leader Dogs for the Blind
Two campers and a counselor enjoy some
afternoon canoe time after fishing in the morning.
