SPENCER - Many Girl Scouts would be gearing up to attend Camp Laurel Wood for the summer, but COVID-19 concerns led the Girl Scouts organization to cancel this year.

Kathleen Wilson, Program Specialist for Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts, said, "We run camp out of four different camps across our council, with a combination of day and resident camp. We have been following state guidelines, federal guidelines, CDC guidelines and it was determined for the safety of the girls, the staff and any volunteers we get at camp that we had to cancel for safety reasons."

Wilson says girls who attend the camp learn life skills and get to do things they may normally not be able to during their summer vacation.

“They're becoming stewards of the outdoors. They're gaining confidence to be outside and learn a lot of skills not a lot of girls get to do like build fires, or get to go hiking or kayaking, swimming, archery, everything like that,” Wilson said.

Wilson attended the camp when she was younger and says it’s sad some girls will not be able to experience it this year. However, the organization is moving learning online so they can still take part in some camp activities from their home.

Wilson said, “They do get to learn some science experiments. We have STEM programs and we do STEM at camp. There are also some arts and crafts programs we have because they'll do arts and crafts at camp. We also have zoom programs that get to do stuff with the outdoors so they get that experience. We also have our girl scouts love the outdoor challenge which is from [Girl Scouts] USA which encourages girls to get outside." 

"They still get to work on things that they could have been doing at camp but at home and we are giving them the resources on how to adapt all of that to do in the comfort of their home,” she added.

The camp also gives girl scouts the chance to work towards new badges.  This year they are handing out virtual badge sheets outlining the steps of how they can do it at home.

Visit the Girl Scouts of Central and Western Massachusetts website to find details on their virtual programs.