Camp Quest History and Mission
Camp Quest Chesapeake is affiliated with Camp Quest, Inc., an independent 501(c)(3) educational non-profit organization based in Columbus, Ohio. Camp Quest is the first residential summer camp in the history of the United States aimed at kids and teens from freethinking families, including parents who identify as Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists, Brights, non-religious, or whatever other terms might be applied to those who hold a naturalistic worldview.
Camp Quest held its first camp session in 1996 in northern Kentucky with approximately 20 campers. Today we serve hundreds of kids and teens at camps across the United States, and in Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland.
Mission Statement
Camp Quest provides fun educational adventures shaped by freethought, friendship, humanist values, and natural wonder.
Values we teach: integrity, empathy, community, critical and scientific inquiry, creativity, responsibility, and fun.
Vision Statement
Camp Quest envisions a world in which children grow up exploring, thinking for themselves, connecting with their communities, and acting to make the most of life for themselves and others.
Through our programs we seek to:
- Build and strengthen community for freethinking families
- Foster curiosity, questioning, and critical thinking in young people to enable them to draw their own conclusions
- Encourage reason and empathy as foundations of an ethical, productive, and fulfilling life
- Provide a safe and fun environment for personal and social growth
- Encourage exploration of the natural world
- Promote an open dialogue about metaphysical questions that is marked by challenging each other’s ideas while at the same time treating each other with respect
- Raise awareness of positive contributions made by atheists, agnostics, humanists, freethinkers, and other nontheistic people to our society
- Demonstrate atheism and humanism as positive, family-friendly worldviews