Camp Nuevo Teaches Kids About Ramona History

During lunch at Ramona Senior Center on Friday, a long line of cub scouts streamed in and lined the walls. The youngsters from Camp Nuevo—a day camp across the street—were there to learn to interact with people of all ages.

They began by singing patriotic songs.

"I just loved it when they sang those songs," one senior, Ed Hattrup said later. "They sang so nicely."

Each boy gave a senior a bookmark and there were big smiles in response.

"I was a teacher," Jean McDonald told one young boy, as she received her gift. "And my husband was principal." (Glae McDonald).

Hattrup took a special interest. He was in scouting for 77 years and holds high honors—the silver beaver and the wood badge. He has been scout master, adult trainer, cub master, among other titles. 

Hattrup told Patch later, "I told one little boy, 'I'm Mr. Ed,' and he said "Well, how do you do, Mr. Ed.' I thought that was so nice. He was so well trained and had good manners. He was only 5 or 6."

Camp director Elizabeth Stewart said the boys were learning how to walk up to people at a gathering and introduce themselves, as a leadership skill.

Nuevo Camp gave the boys opportunities to learn about nature and gardening. Local author and American Indian Studies professor, Richard Carrico, opened the camp. Ranger Jon from Dos Picos County Park took everyone on a hike and Rosemarie Thomas taught them about gardening. There was also a professional art teacher, Stewart said.

This year, the camp was a little different, she said.

"The theme was past, present and future. We decided to take Ramona's past for our name, so we called it Camp Nuevo. We'll probably incorporate Nuevo into all our future camp names."

Later in the day, back down at Ramona Outdoor Community Center, storyteller Abel Silvas, known as Running Grunion, entertained the scouts and adult volunteers with folklore, to wrap up the camp activities. He explained the origin of the town's name, Ramona, which came from a historical romance novel of the same name by Helen Hunt Jackson. Then, he invited the boys to help him tell stories by wearing animal skins.