Stomping Ground Camp INC

Stomping Ground brings kids from different backgrounds, racial identities, and economic circumstances together to connect, share, learn and grow. Stomping Ground is committed to a trust-based sliding payment scale and we have developed an extensive network of partnerships to make camp accessible to all families and communities.

Before starting Camp Stomping Ground, founders Jack Schott and Laura Kriegel canvassed the country learning about best practices from the best minds in the industry. They traveled to 47 states and visited over 200 different camps, schools, and kid centered communities.

We recognize that most children today grow up in siloed communities with homogeneous populations. If kids grow up with friends, neighbors, and peers who tend to all identify similarly it is harder to build empathy across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic lines. At Stomping Ground, we consciously break this mold to build bridges across differences. When kids live and learn in a community that holds many world views and perspectives, they grow to become more inclusive and humbly curious.

We believe unstructured, kid directed play is the primary way kids build confidence, develop communication skills, and practice critical thinking. At Stomping Ground we trust kids to make their own schedule, we trust them to make decisions about how they spend their time, we trust them to play. We trust kids so that they can begin to trust themselves.