Learning Camp finds a home near county airport
Permanent digs north of airport to open - this summer
By Pam Holmes Boyd - Vail Daily
April 1, 2002

A haven for kids who struggle with learning disabilities is rising from the sagebrush north of the Eagle County Regional Airport.

The Learning Camp is an overnight summer camp for kids ages 7-14. It targets children diagnosed with perceptual communicative disorder, information processing disorder, attention deficit disorder, memorization problems and dyslexia.

This summer, the camp is moving to its new, permanent home in the hills between Eagle and Gypsum.

The camp is the brainchild of, Ann Cathcart, who began the program when her son was diagnosed with a learning disability. When she couldn't find the summer camp she wanted, she created her own. Six years later, The Learning Camp offers four, three-week sessions for up to 40 kids each. Children travel from as far away as Kenya and Japan to participate.

"I think we are really successful at changing kids attitudes about, their abilities," Cathcart said. "That is what propels us. Children with learning differences can soar like I eagles if they have the appropriate support."

By June 10, a lodge with a kitchen, infirmary, office, bathhouse and dining deck will be completed at the new site. Canvas bedroom yurts will dot the hillside I above the lodge. A pond will be filled and ready for swimmers.

Visitor who stayed

A native of Pennsylvania, Cathcart was a college senior when she visited Vail during spring break 1976.

"After I graduated, I came back for what was going to be one season, and now it's 26 years later."

Cathcart eventually moved to Fort Collins, where ran the local Better Business Bureau.

"I was a single mom on a very driven career path," said Cathcart. "Then one day I was called into to a meeting with my son's teacher, and that meeting changed the focus of my life in ways I couldn't foresee at that time."

Changing everything

Tucker was in the first grade when he was diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. "It was heartbreaking to watch his struggles and by the third grade, he hated school and hated summer because that meant tutors, and I decided everything had to change."

The first change was a return to Eagle County. Then, Cathcart started her fateful search for an appropriate summer camp. "I wanted fun and I wanted academiCS, and I wanted it in my backyard," she said with a laugh. She launched her own camp to meet all the criteria.

In 1996, The Learning Camp offered a days-only program for children with learning disabilities. The program held to a simple formula - mornings devoted to academics, and afternoons to fun.

That first year, the program operated out of Edwards Elementary School with 23 kids enrolled. They urged Cathcart to offer an overnight camp the next year and she did that for the 1997 season.

"It was my business background that gave the guts to do this. Passion for helping kids with learning differences gave me the stamina to get through it," said Cathcart. "It's phenomenal for me to look where we sit now."

Changing lives

Cathcart learned from personal experience that there aren't quick fixes for kids with learning differences. But she believes there are strategies that can help. "These children with learning differences are fantastically brilliant in other areas. They really are learning differences, not disabilities."

While she is the vision and the mother figure for the camp, Cathcart stressed she is not a teacher. "Unlike most camps, my teachers and counselors are adults with degrees," she said.

Cathcart made a momentous decision early on in the camp's life when she hired Tom Macht from Children's Hospital in Denver. Macht planned to work at the camp for one summer. Instead, he found Cathcart, and the couple married three years ago. His son Chris, 19, rounds out the Cathcart- Macht family.

Moving to the new facility this year has brought Cathcart's camp dream to fruition. "This will be a summer camp for as long as I'm here," she said. "I really hope it will be a haven for kids with educatIonal challenges forever."

When the campers arrive for the 2002 season, they will participate in a tried and true program, "We have classes in the mornings and in the afternoons we put away the bOoks and have fun. There's no tests and no grades."

As the summer rolls on, the kids will raft down the Colorado, explore the forest around the new camp site, embark on rock-climbing expeditions and take over the Eagle pool for a campers' only evening party. At night, they will gather at campfires and talk about the challenges they face at home and at school. And finally, when the day is over, they will crawl into bed where Cathcart makes the rounds, tucking in each camper.

Tucker, the kid who inspired The Learning Camp, is now too old to attend. He will graduate from Battle Mountain High School this spring and is making college plans. Cathcart believes that The Learning Camp played a pivotal role in her son's successes.

"I think he looks at his learning differences now as a good thing. It's taught him how to face struggles in life. Not only did this camp work for my son, it works for lots of kids."

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