aYF Centennial

Miniwanca girls camp reunion

august 29 to September 1, 2025

Registration opens Tuesday, January 28, 2025!

Join us for three days on the sand dunes to visit with old friends, rediscover favorite memories, and connect with the values of best self and balanced living.

This very special Girls Camp Reunion coincides with the centennial year of the American Youth Foundation, and we look forward to celebrating the special place Girls Camp holds in Miniwanca's storied history.

We hope you help honor the past, celebrate the present, and embrace the future of the American Youth Foundation and Miniwanca!

2025 Pricing

Onsite Rate

$300

Offsite Rate

$200

Rates include all meals and activities. All participants must be 18 or older.

Financial aid applications are available during registration.

Reunion FAQ

what we'll do

Enjoy a day in the life of Girls Camp! From the first rising bell to the last Evening Reflection on the beach, we'll enjoy three community meals each day, a Polar Bear plunge, time in the Craft House, waterfront boating, tubing on Stony Lake, Interest Groups, free time, songs, quiet moments, and updates from the AYF!

2024 Speakers

This year’s theme is Illuminating Your Path

Jennifer Cramer

Illuminating Human Connection & Community through Primate Studies

Jennifer Cramer is an anthropologist and primatologist whose field-based projects have taken her to Central America, the Caribbean, and across Africa. Studying wild primates in a diverse range of habitats, she became fascinated by the ways they have complex relationships with one another, just like people.

This session will reflect on how humans fit into our larger natural environment by exploring the amazing similarities between us and our closest living biological relatives, primates (like apes and monkeys).

Scientists have long leaned on primate studies to broaden their understanding of human behavior and health. In some primate species, females hold the power in the group, are highly cooperative, have lasting relationships, and spend long periods of time caring for their young. Our SSW community will learn more about parallels between primates and humans to reshape and strengthen our understanding of our own experiences as women.

Jennifer will share what sparked her passion for studying primates and why her work has shifted toward collaboratively growing local conservation efforts and environmental stewardship. Just as SSW brings together women from all walks of life to create community, Jennifer owes her unlikely life path to women guides and mentors who encouraged her to pursue meaning and paths less traveled.

Jennifer also develops training and education programs for an affordable, cooperative housing nonprofit organization. She lives in Milwaukee with her family and enjoys being a mother to two fun daughters. Attending Summer Seminars for Women in 2023 was her opportunity to fulfill her childhood dream of experiencing sleepaway camp.

Meredith Sanders

SoulCollage® – Creative Illumination

Meredith Sanders has served on the SSW Coordinating Team for three years and wears multiple hats within AYF programs. One of the most admired and notable gifts Meredith possesses is her immense creativity. She generously shares this gift and believes each of us has the ability and freedom to express our uniquely creative selves in many ways. An avid photographer, skilled facilitator, thought leader, and advocate for youth and adult empowerment, Meredith mindfully enhances experiential learning and the sense of space and place in any environment.

During this session, Meredith will guide us through an interactive and introspective process called SoulCollage®. As a trained SoulCollage® Facilitator, Meredith will support our group as we create our intuitive collages using a variety of images. There are many ways we can quiet our minds, and simply be in conversation with and listen to ourselves.

Using the materials we will have available on site (as well as what participants will bring), our morning will include a fascinating mix of learning, creating, doing, sharing, and observing. Being in community while exploring our own pathways, how we travelled them, and how we honor the people who have helped light the way in our lives will culminate into a unique and illuminating creation to take home.

Questions?

Holley Young

Director of Adult Programs