Bothwell’s Bay Cliff Science Camp celebrates 50th anniversary

BIG BAY, Mich. (WLUC) - Students from Bothwell Middle School in Marquette will be experiencing a week of fun and science.

It’s the 50th anniversary of Bothwell’s Bay Cliff Science Camp. Middle school teachers put on this camp themselves. Throughout the week, students will be taking the classroom outside to study water quality, invasive species and pond life, but it’s not just schoolwork. There are several recreation activities also planned for students.

Co-Director for the camp Courtney Beecher said this is an opportunity for students to unplug and just be kids.

“They get to play games, they get to spend time with friends, there’s camp s’mores,” Beecher said. “There’s camp scary stories, there’s all of these things that these kids haven’t had an opportunity to do yet. Whenever we take them down to s’mores, it’s always surprising how many of them haven’t made a s’more before.”

Since its start in 1973, around 11,000 students have participated in the program. Teacher Scot Stewart has been part of the camp for 29 of the 50 years. He said the teachers get as excited as the students for this week.

“It’s unbelievable the amount of time teachers put in to getting everything ready for class,” Stewart said. “We start back in January now, that’s one of the things that has changed, we start a lot earlier, just to be planned out and try to be all inclusive as much as we can.”

Beecher said one of the best parts of this camp is seeing students come out of their shells.

“We get them up here and we get to see them have so much fun,” Beecher said. “The running, and the playing, and the learning from one another, and all these collaborations that they’re doing is an awesome part of it. We put it on because we absolutely love watching these kids get to be kids.”

Beecher also said that she hopes the students take the memories that they make today with them for the rest of their lives.

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