Camp Onyahsa offers an exciting and rewarding experience for any camper. On Chautauqua Lake, we offer traditional camp sessions, specialty camps, academic programs, teen activities, leadership programs, waterfront events and much more.
"For Fun, For Friends, Forever;" this is the heart of the Onyahsa experience- for the new camper or the veteran. Since its inception well over a century ago, YMCA Camp Onyahsa has been a great place for youth and families. Then as now, it offers security, authenticity, peace, and exciting fun; as necessary today as ever. In a beautiful wooded setting, on the edge of the lake, we don't only enjoy recreation; we aim to "re-create" in the Great Outdoors.
Celebrating its 112th year in 2010, Camp Onyahsa offers an exciting, genuine, and rewarding experience for any camper. Nestled in its own wooded bay on northern Chautauqua Lake, we offer traditional camp sessions, specialty camps, academic programs, teen activities, leadership development programs, extensive waterfront classes, outdoor environmental education, and much more. Each of our weeks has a fun theme as the focus of its activities, and is implemented by caring, committed and competent staff members.
Campers live in rustic single-sex, age-graded cabins or tents under the supervision of carefully selected and trained staff members. The Camp's directors and health staff also reside on site, and provide 24 hour per day supervision, and the Camp has a staff to camper ratio of at least 1:8.
All campers participate together in our special activities, such as campfires, skits, Club Time, theme nights, Olympic games, village nights, and other all-camp programs. Meanwhile, through age-group cabin and tent living with their adult counselors, campers learn as members of small groups to share and live cooperatively. The activities and living areas are staffed with well-qualified and highly committed counselors, who share the goal of making a stay at Onyahsa a truly rewarding experience for all members of the Camp Community.
The Onyahsa mission is to foster the healthy Spiritual, Intellectual, and Physical well-being of Camp Participants from diverse backgrounds within a nurturing outdoor environment, while creating a meaningful sense of Community among them through an active learning experience.
Here we seek to encourage Spiritual growth- through a non-denominational stress on compassion, social justice, human rights, and the strengthening of faith in a loving Creator; Intellectual growth by fostering tolerance, self-awareness, and multi-cultural mutual understanding- the foundations of peace; Physical health, an appreciation for the gift of life and a responsibility to nurture it; and the creation of Community- an authentic experience of belonging created by diverse members who share traditional common values including honesty, caring, respect, and responsibility.
The Onyahsa experience is set in a beautiful, natural outdoor environment, and is fostered by committed, caring and competent staff members and volunteers. Our goal is to provide a genuine, safe, healthy, and happy camp experience for youth and families through life-enriching, "back-to-basics" organized summer and year-round programs.
Join us for this wonderful, exciting, and necessary experience. And whether it's for the first time or the hundredth, Come Home to Camp Onyahsa.
Activities and Features
Accommodating Special Needs
Asthma Learning Disability Physical Disability
Religious Emphasis
None
Academic
General Academics History Language Studies
Outdoor Activities
General Outdoors Climb and Rappel Backpacking Hiking Rock Climbing
Performing Arts
General Performing Arts Dance Drama Music
Horseback Riding
General Horseback Riding Western
Competitive Events
Competitive Events Intra Camp Competition
Individual Sports
General Individual Sports Archery Gymnastics
Team Sports
General Team Sports Baseball Basketball Football Field Hockey Lacrosse Roller Hockey Soccer Softball Volleyball
Water Sports
General Water Sports Instructional Swimming Recreational Swimming Competitive Swimming Canoeing Fishing Kayaking Sailing
Arts and Crafts
General Arts and Crafts
Miscellaneous
General Miscellaneous Actvities Color War Mountain Biking Environmental Farming Leadership Skills Photography Radio Video/TV Go-Carting
Other Activities
monthly off-season weekend camps all year
Camp Address
Winter Address
5411 East Lake Rd
Dewittville NY, 14728 USA
716-753-5244 (tel.) 716-753-2354 (fax.)
Jamestown YMCA
101 East 4th Street Jamestown, NY, 14701 USA
716-664-2802 ext 238 (tel.) 716-487-1174 (fax.)
