RAGF Nature Camp Scholarship
“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” T.S. Eliot
For more than a decade, we've been sending students from Loup City, Arcadia, and Litchfield to nature camps in Colorado. Our hope is that this experience - a completely different environment, strapping on a backpack to explore the beautiful mountains, and getting to know kids from other parts of our country, even different countries altogether - will have a lasting and positive affect on them.
This scholarship is open to any student who attends Loup City, Litchfield, or Arcadia Public Schools and will be in grades 7-8 in the fall of 2023. RAGF pays for the camp, and for transportation to get the student to and from the pick-up/drop-off location. We can also help with gear if any is needed.
The scholarship opportunity for 2023 will be to attend a week long camp session in the Colorado mountains. The recipient will be able to choose a session from one of the following camps:
YMCA Camp Santa Maria near Bailey, CO
http://ymcacampsantamaria.org/csm/camps.html
Avid 4 Adventure near Bailey, CO (the 1 week options in Colorado)
https://avid4.com/expedition-camps
Stone Canyon Outdoor Edventures in Larkspur, CO
https://www.stonecanyonedge.org/summercamp/
We recommend choosing the session that is most appealing and then having 2-3 alternates as the camps do fill quickly. Campers will spend their days exploring their environment and learning fun skills while making new friends and learning to embrace the mountains. We hope that it will be a week that won't be forgotten!
Application deadline Feb 11, 2023. Please note: For 2023 we will be selecting only one scholarship recipient - not one from each school.
For more than a decade, we've been sending students from Loup City, Arcadia, and Litchfield to nature camps in Colorado. Our hope is that this experience - a completely different environment, strapping on a backpack to explore the beautiful mountains, and getting to know kids from other parts of our country, even different countries altogether - will have a lasting and positive affect on them.
This scholarship is open to any student who attends Loup City, Litchfield, or Arcadia Public Schools and will be in grades 7-8 in the fall of 2023. RAGF pays for the camp, and for transportation to get the student to and from the pick-up/drop-off location. We can also help with gear if any is needed.
The scholarship opportunity for 2023 will be to attend a week long camp session in the Colorado mountains. The recipient will be able to choose a session from one of the following camps:
YMCA Camp Santa Maria near Bailey, CO
http://ymcacampsantamaria.org/csm/camps.html
Avid 4 Adventure near Bailey, CO (the 1 week options in Colorado)
https://avid4.com/expedition-camps
Stone Canyon Outdoor Edventures in Larkspur, CO
https://www.stonecanyonedge.org/summercamp/
We recommend choosing the session that is most appealing and then having 2-3 alternates as the camps do fill quickly. Campers will spend their days exploring their environment and learning fun skills while making new friends and learning to embrace the mountains. We hope that it will be a week that won't be forgotten!
Application deadline Feb 11, 2023. Please note: For 2023 we will be selecting only one scholarship recipient - not one from each school.
2020/2021 Nature Camp Scholarship Winner!

Malynn Boyles of Litchfield won our 2020/2021 Nature Camp Scholarship! She attended the YMCA Camp Santa Maria Outdoor Adventure Camp and loved it! In her words:
I went to camp Santa Maria.
It was way different than I imagined . As soon as I got there it took my breath away. It is a huge place with a basketball court, swimming pool, very nice cafeteria and beautiful mountains.
I stayed in Pioneer Village and even though they were canvas tents they were very nice inside and the cots were comfortable to sleep on. I was very nervous at first. I had never been to Colorado before. But the campers and counselors made me feel welcome.
We did lots of activities. Since I was in Outdoor Adventure Camp 2, we hiked up the mountain to a beautiful tree grove called Aspen Grove and camped out for a few nights. We also rock climbed, swam, went kayaking/paddle boarding in the lake, and did arts and crafts.
My favorite thing was making friendship bracelets for my new friends.
We had normal meals, like for breakfast one day we had pancakes, eggs and bacon. For lunch one day we had chicken nuggets and french fries. And for supper one day we had sloppy Joes and chips.
We didn't have schedules like traditional camp so we could play soccer or go swimming with our group whenever the counselor’s said we could.
Some things I learned were how to purify water, rock climb, and how to pack these giant backpacks to hike.
Everyone there was just so amazing and fun to be around. Camp Santa Maria was so interesting and a great life experience. I 10 out of 10 recommend going there.
I went to camp Santa Maria.
It was way different than I imagined . As soon as I got there it took my breath away. It is a huge place with a basketball court, swimming pool, very nice cafeteria and beautiful mountains.
I stayed in Pioneer Village and even though they were canvas tents they were very nice inside and the cots were comfortable to sleep on. I was very nervous at first. I had never been to Colorado before. But the campers and counselors made me feel welcome.
We did lots of activities. Since I was in Outdoor Adventure Camp 2, we hiked up the mountain to a beautiful tree grove called Aspen Grove and camped out for a few nights. We also rock climbed, swam, went kayaking/paddle boarding in the lake, and did arts and crafts.
My favorite thing was making friendship bracelets for my new friends.
We had normal meals, like for breakfast one day we had pancakes, eggs and bacon. For lunch one day we had chicken nuggets and french fries. And for supper one day we had sloppy Joes and chips.
We didn't have schedules like traditional camp so we could play soccer or go swimming with our group whenever the counselor’s said we could.
Some things I learned were how to purify water, rock climb, and how to pack these giant backpacks to hike.
Everyone there was just so amazing and fun to be around. Camp Santa Maria was so interesting and a great life experience. I 10 out of 10 recommend going there.
2019 Nature Camp Scholarship Winners' Experiences:
Read about Sam's Experience at YMCA Camp Santa Maria!
Read about Tyra's Experience at YMCA Camp Santa Maria!
Faith's Camp Photos
Read about Tyra's Experience at YMCA Camp Santa Maria!
Faith's Camp Photos
2018 Nature Camp Scholarship Winners' Experiences:
Click here to read about Jestin's experience at Outdoor Edventures!
Click here to read about Chloe's experience at Avid4Adventure!
Click here to read about Chloe's experience at Avid4Adventure!
Our 2016 Camper!

Bryce Placzek attended the Camp Cal-wood Eco Engineers session in July of 2016 and had a wonderful experience!
In the words of prior campers....
My name is Joe Hervert and I was chosen to go to the Yampatika Wilderness Pioneers Camp in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. The Rebecca Adams-Green Foundation sponsored my trip and some of my teachers at school nominated me for it. I was really excited to be chosen to go. I love being outside and being a part of nature. I love to learn new things and I’m pretty adventurous. I plan to be a herpetologist someday. A herpetologist is a zoologist that studies amphibians and reptiles. I am particularly interested in turtles and lizards.
Going to Steamboat Springs and Yampatika was awesome! I got to learn about a whole new environment in the mountains. Colorado and Nebraska share a lot of native species but there are still a lot of new things to see and learn about in the mountains. I met some new interesting people, one of the campers was originally from Africa!
While at camp we spent one night camping on the mountain. We hiked up to the Little Causeway Lake, carrying everything we needed in a pack on our backs. The packs were all 30 to 45 pounds when they were full. I got to cross the Devil’s Causeway, which is 1,000 feet down on both sides. It was very cool. A moose visited our camp early the next morning and that was pretty cool too.
When we weren’t at camp we visited lots of other parts of Steamboat Springs and really got to know the Yampa Valley. It’s a really cool place and we can see why Rebecca, Rod, Kade and Rachel really loved it.
My trip to Steamboat Springs and Yampatika is one I will never forget! Thanks!
Going to Steamboat Springs and Yampatika was awesome! I got to learn about a whole new environment in the mountains. Colorado and Nebraska share a lot of native species but there are still a lot of new things to see and learn about in the mountains. I met some new interesting people, one of the campers was originally from Africa!
While at camp we spent one night camping on the mountain. We hiked up to the Little Causeway Lake, carrying everything we needed in a pack on our backs. The packs were all 30 to 45 pounds when they were full. I got to cross the Devil’s Causeway, which is 1,000 feet down on both sides. It was very cool. A moose visited our camp early the next morning and that was pretty cool too.
When we weren’t at camp we visited lots of other parts of Steamboat Springs and really got to know the Yampa Valley. It’s a really cool place and we can see why Rebecca, Rod, Kade and Rachel really loved it.
My trip to Steamboat Springs and Yampatika is one I will never forget! Thanks!
My Summer trip to Yampitika and Steamboat Springs
By: Joeli Walrath
First off, let me begin by thanking the Rebecca Adams Green Foundation for making this trip possible. We left church on Sunday and began our journey, what a long car ride!! It was fun though, our sponsors stopped at some really cool places like the Wyoming State Penitentiary Museum, where the Sundance Kid did time! We headed on into Steamboat Springs on Monday, and arrived at a condo, a very cozy place to spend the week, it was right in front of Steamboat Resort on Longthong road. We went to Strawberry Springs, as Eldon had suggested, it was neat, I can’t say cool, because it was hot, too hot at first, but I had never seen anything like it with all the natural hot springs it was a very neat place to go. The next day we went to camp, and met people that I will never forget. I made friends with a girl who was originally from Kenya, now living Georgia, and some local boys, and Joe was there too, but someone who really inspired me was our camp counselor; Kelly “Causeway” Northcutt. I was a little apprehensive the first day, but she made me feel right at home, she taught us things all week that prepared us for our hike. On Thursday we hiked into the mountains, climbing up to an 11,000 feet elevation at the Causeway, Joe went out onto the Causeway, but with it’s 1,000 ft. drops on both sides, and it only being a couple of feet across, a felt safer just watching him do it! We hiked with at least 25 pounds on our backs (some of us brought more), caught lizards, fished, and cooked on the campfire while up in the mountains, it is so beautiful up there, I took a few pictures of the lake as dusk settled in, and as I stood atop the mountain, looking at the sun setting on the lake and it’s peacefulness, you can’t help but thank God for all the beauty he put on this earth, it is simply…breathtaking.
That night as I was trying to sleep my new friend and campmate went outside to use the bathroom, I heard some tromping, and thought to myself…that sounds like hooves…She came darting into the tent yelling MOOSE!! Sure enough a large bull moose was outside crashing our campsite, he ran around a while, between the tents, scaring us half to death, peed on the boys tent, and eventually took off. It was an experience! It was hard to sleep after that! In the morning we packed out and hiked back down the mountain, it was pretty somber, we all knew we were going to have to say goodbye to each other soon.
After we got back to Yampitika there were a lot of hugs and goodbyes. It was a great experience and I hope somewhere down life’s path I see my Yampitika friends again. That night we took our final tour of Steamboat Springs on bikes to say goodbye to the town, and it’s lovely mountains.
I had a great time, I hope that others will go and enjoy it as much as I did. Thank You for this experience.
Joeli Walrath
By: Joeli Walrath
First off, let me begin by thanking the Rebecca Adams Green Foundation for making this trip possible. We left church on Sunday and began our journey, what a long car ride!! It was fun though, our sponsors stopped at some really cool places like the Wyoming State Penitentiary Museum, where the Sundance Kid did time! We headed on into Steamboat Springs on Monday, and arrived at a condo, a very cozy place to spend the week, it was right in front of Steamboat Resort on Longthong road. We went to Strawberry Springs, as Eldon had suggested, it was neat, I can’t say cool, because it was hot, too hot at first, but I had never seen anything like it with all the natural hot springs it was a very neat place to go. The next day we went to camp, and met people that I will never forget. I made friends with a girl who was originally from Kenya, now living Georgia, and some local boys, and Joe was there too, but someone who really inspired me was our camp counselor; Kelly “Causeway” Northcutt. I was a little apprehensive the first day, but she made me feel right at home, she taught us things all week that prepared us for our hike. On Thursday we hiked into the mountains, climbing up to an 11,000 feet elevation at the Causeway, Joe went out onto the Causeway, but with it’s 1,000 ft. drops on both sides, and it only being a couple of feet across, a felt safer just watching him do it! We hiked with at least 25 pounds on our backs (some of us brought more), caught lizards, fished, and cooked on the campfire while up in the mountains, it is so beautiful up there, I took a few pictures of the lake as dusk settled in, and as I stood atop the mountain, looking at the sun setting on the lake and it’s peacefulness, you can’t help but thank God for all the beauty he put on this earth, it is simply…breathtaking.
That night as I was trying to sleep my new friend and campmate went outside to use the bathroom, I heard some tromping, and thought to myself…that sounds like hooves…She came darting into the tent yelling MOOSE!! Sure enough a large bull moose was outside crashing our campsite, he ran around a while, between the tents, scaring us half to death, peed on the boys tent, and eventually took off. It was an experience! It was hard to sleep after that! In the morning we packed out and hiked back down the mountain, it was pretty somber, we all knew we were going to have to say goodbye to each other soon.
After we got back to Yampitika there were a lot of hugs and goodbyes. It was a great experience and I hope somewhere down life’s path I see my Yampitika friends again. That night we took our final tour of Steamboat Springs on bikes to say goodbye to the town, and it’s lovely mountains.
I had a great time, I hope that others will go and enjoy it as much as I did. Thank You for this experience.
Joeli Walrath