The Carleton Ravens basketball camp said it is encouraging its campers to make healthier food choices after a concerned parent, unhappy with access to unhealthy lunch options at the campus dining hall, pulled his seven-year-old son from the program.
Sean Silcoff, a Carleton alumnus, said it is unfortunate that kids are exposed to unhealthy foods at a camp that promotes a healthy lifestyle.
“The kids are going ape over drinking all the soft drinks and eating all the crap food that they can,” Silcoff said, and added the dining hall itself is the problem.
“You send your kid to attend basketball camp taught by the national champion team of basketball and they come back and all they can talk about is the cafeteria because they’re basically allowed to run amok,” he said.
Chris Surgeoner, Carleton’s camp and intramural coordinator, said the university takes any complaint concerning food seriously. He said some camp counsellors are more aware than others about helping campers make healthy choices.
“After we spoke to [Silcoff], we made it a bigger part of the basketball camp specifically and we’re making it a bigger part of the opening week instructions,” he said. “We absolutely try and guide them, but some camp counsellors are good about that and some aren’t quite as dutiful in doing that.”
A parent himself, Surgeoner said he understands Silcoff’s concerns.
“At camp, you’re supposed to have healthy lifestyle values,” he said. “I’ve got a six-year-old daughter and if you leave her to her own devices, she’s going to eat a bunch of fries and eat too much ice cream.”
Despite the complaint, Surgeoner said parents have been satisfied with the dining hall and the provided lunches. He said out of 102 survey responses, the average score for lunches was 8.5 out of 10.
“We’ve always provided the lunch through the Fresh Food Company in residence and it’s been like that since before I came to Carleton in 2006,” Surgeoner said.
He added he understands the camps cannot please everyone, but said lunches have improved through camps’ partnership with the Fresh Food Company’s head chef over the years.
“There’s always some who say the lunch was not what they were looking for and for some kids it doesn’t work for and that’s absolutely to be expected,” he said.
Surgeoner said the real challenge is ensuring the campers enjoy what is being offered as well.
“A kid eating two plates of fries, that’s not good, but then again, if a kid says that they’re still hungry, I’m sure parents would still be upset,” he said.
Surgeoner said that he has been working closely with the Fresh Food Company on this issue.
“We try to strike the balance between having healthy days Tuesday to Thursday and then on Monday, the first day. [On] Friday, the sort of end of the week treat, we tend to have some fries and whatever else,” he said.
Food options on healthy days include a salad bar, a pasta option, a starch, fresh vegetables, a meat dish, and fresh fruit. For dessert, there is ice cream or pudding.
Surgeoner said he is pleased with the level of success the camps have had with the lunch program.
“Lunches are a really popular part of camp, but they’re also in many ways the most contentious part of camp,” he said. “The vast majority of kids who have come through have had a great experience.”
