Summer Camp 2025
Lottery Information
On January 3, 2025, we opened a Summer Camp lottery system to assign camps. In addition to more equitable access to the registration process, this allowed more time for families to complete registration and offer both new and returning camp families the ability to register. Thanks to our camper families, the lottery was a great success!
Did you enter your family and now have some questions?
Are you curious about how the system worked?
Here’s a timeline to show where we are in the process and a lottery Q&A section.
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Lottery Timeline
From January 3 to 19, Summer Camps will be available for browse and the lottery form will open.
On January 19, we will stop taking entries for the lottery in preparation of our regular registration process.
You will be notified about your entry status between January 20 and February 2. If you are selected, you’ll have 3 days to complete the registration process.
On February 3 at 10am our usual registration will begin.
After the lottery selection process, all remaining camp spots will be available on a first come-first serve basis as of February 3, after which time, full registration must be completed to hold spots.
Lottery Q&A
Lottery entries were open from January 3–19, 2025. One entry covered your whole family.
No, the lottery selection is random for all entries. Since everyone in the community is encouraged to participate, no priorities are given.
No, entering the lottery is free. However, if you’re offered a spot, you’ll need to pay in full to complete your registration and secure your place.
Once the lottery period ends, we’ll contact everyone—whether you’re selected or not. If you get a spot, our camp registration team will reach out between January 20 and February 2. At that point, you’ll need to complete the camper registration form, health history, and provide payment within 3 days to secure your spot. If we don’t hear from you within 3 days, we’ll assume you’re no longer interested, and the spot will go to the next person. If you decline a spot, you won’t stay on the waitlist for that camp. However, you can rejoin the waitlist during open registration if you’d like.
You can request any of our summer camp programs or week-long early childhood programs through the lottery. If you’re unsure which camp is the best fit for your child(ren), feel free to email us at education@urbanecologycenter.org.
The lottery entry allows for 4 camp preferences per child. You may be selected for up to 4 sessions from this information. After February 3rd, additional camp sessions may be available.
To secure a camp spot you've been offered, payment must be completed in full through our online registration system. During registration, you can choose the program cost or the price break for each camp. Scholarship pricing is only available to those who have been awarded a scholarship. If you have any questions about fees, please reach out to us.
Yes, families can apply for scholarships by answering the scholarship questions in the lottery entry form. Be sure to include your annual household income, household size, number of dependents, and any other details you'd like us to consider. Scholarship decisions will be shared via email as part of the lottery process. We reserve spots in each camp for scholarship recipients, but some spots fill quickly.
Spots will be offered between January 20 and February 2. If applying for multiple children or camps, you may receive multiple messages. You’ll have 3 days to accept each spot, complete registration, and pay in full. If we don’t hear back, the spot goes to the next person. Declining a spot removes you from the waitlist, but you can rejoin during open registration.
Please indicate on the lottery form if siblings must be placed in the same week together. We will do our best to honor these requests, but it is not guaranteed. If there are not enough spots available to accommodate each sibling in the same week, they will be placed on the waitlist and considered for the next available camp as indicated in your preferences.
If you miss the lottery entry, please visit our summer camp site February 3 when open registration begins.
During the lottery selection (January 20–February 2), you can decline a spot without penalty. After full registration and payment, please contact us as soon as possible for cancellations:
- More than 30 days before camp: Full refund minus a $45 processing fee.
- 2 weeks to 30 days before camp: 50% refund.
- Less than 2 weeks before camp: No refund.
If your entry isn't chosen, please visit our summer camp site on February 3rd when open registration begins.