FAQs
While this website provides a lot of information, you may have many more questions. Below are the answers to a few commonly-asked questions. Please email info@campinterlaken.org or call 414-967-8240 us if you have a question that is not answered here.
Camp Interlaken JCC opened in 1966 on the grounds of Camp called Interlaken of the Pines for Boys that had been built and opened in the late 1930s.
Yes, Camp Interlaken and the Milwaukee JCC offer financial assistance for Camp. Please click here to learn more about the scholarship process and other grants and incentives available to help with the cost of camp.
Camp Interlaken’s health center is staffed 24 hours a day with registered nurses and medical assistants. Each week a new, volunteer physician joins our medical team on site. We are just ten minutes away from a hospital, and our local emergency services have a seven-minute response time.
Please click here to view our immunization policy.
The health center will notify a parent for the following reasons:
- Your child stays overnight in the health center
- Your child needs to be placed on prescription medication
- Your child has to be taken out of camp to a doctor, emergency room or hospital
The health center will not notify a parent for the following reasons:
- Your child spends some time in the health center that does not entail an overnight stay
- Your child receives a routine diagnosis like a cold, cough, sore throat, bug bites, headaches, or stomach aches.
Camp Interlaken is peanut & tree nut free. We do our best to accommodate campers with special food needs. Please click here to view more information about our food at Camp.
Buses are provided from Milwaukee, Chicago, Madison and Minneapolis. A shuttle is also provided to the Rhinelander Airport (RHI). Chaperoned flights are provided from Ft. Lauderdale, Tucson, and Dallas. Contact Holly White at hwhite@jccmilwaukee.org for more information about booking your flights. Luggage comes up to Camp with your camper either on their bus or on a luggage truck. You are also welcome to ship your camper’s luggage; we prefer to work with ShipCamps: https://www.shipcamps.com/interlakenjcc.
Campers can request friends to bunk with. Once you are registered, this question is asked as a part of the Camp forms. Mutual requests are always honored. Campers can also make a negative request if there is a camper who they do not want to bunk with. Negative requests are not always honored, but we do the best we can. Please remember that one of our goals at Camp is for every camper to make new friends and break down social cliques. Therefore, we try to avoid cabins consisting entirely of children from one school or synagogue. We do not grant requests to be with campers in different grades.
Parents and other relatives are not allowed to visit their children while they are campers. You are welcome to drop off your camper at the beginning of the session or to pick up your camper at the end of the session to tour camp.
Yes! At Camp Interlaken, we have Bar/Mat Mitzvah tutoring available, and we offer one-on-one tutoring if your b’nai mitvah is before January of the following school year. Each week, a tutor will meet with the camper once and there is also a study hall that is staffed by a few tutors that meets once a week. All materials should be sent with your child to camp. Camp’s program is designed to review and practice with the campers. Additionally, campers can set up a once-a-week Zoom with their cantor/tutor/rabbi at home to review.
Birthday celebrations at camp are AWESOME! Counselors go all out to make sure the day is special for your child, and camp honors each birthday boy or girl with an exclusive birthday T-Shirt, cake for their cabin, and celebration. Campers get to call home on their birthday so their family can wish them a happy day!
Click here for Camp Interlaken’s Package Policy.
Yes! We have an awesome canteen! Campers visit the canteen 2-3 times/week where they can buy a snack, a drink, toiletries, sundries, and Camp swag! Our canteen carries batteries, stamps, shampoo, toothbrushes, chapstick, and more in case your camper runs out of these items. Campers love buying sweatshirts, tie dye shirts, sweatpants, t-shirts, stuffed animals, and more. Your camp tuition includes $15/week towards your camper’s canteen account, and you’re welcome to put in more money as you would like. Campers do not need to bring any money to Camp.
Camp Interlaken’s campers come from all over the country and Israel. Only about 35% of our campers are from Milwaukee with another 20% from surrounding areas in Wisconsin. Our other communities that we draw campers from are Chicago, Minneapolis, South Florida, Dallas/Austin, Tucson, Scottsdale, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and many more. Typically we have found that wherever our alumni have settled are cities that we have new groups of campers coming from. Interlaken has a large percentage of second generation campers who join us each summer.
Camp Interlaken is Screen-Free. We do not allow cell phones, iTouches, video games, kindles, iPads, or any other devices with a screen at Camp. Campers are allowed to bring a few approved devices from listening to music with small screens like the Sandisk Sansa Clip or an iPod Shuffle. Campers who travel by plane and bring their cell phones for travel may store them in the Camp’s safe during their camp session. If a charger has been provided, we will charge all phones before the camper flies home.
Fortunately, about 90% of our cabin counselors have grown up in the Interlaken system and went through our Ozrim program, a full summer staff-in-training program. These counselors have grown up living the values of Camp Interlaken and want nothing more than to give back to the place that’s given them so much. Our Ozrim program also offers a Lifeguard Training program, and we constantly do in-services and reviews throughout their time on staff to prepare them for any emergency situation. We also hire staff internationally from Israel, UK, New Zealand, Australia, and Hungary to add to the cultural diversity in camp. All staff are personally screened and selected by one of our camp directors to ensure our highest standards are met. Before camp begins, all staff participate in an intensive education program in addition to ongoing training throughout the summer.