Preston Fenton has spent many summers since 2009 enjoying camp with other blind and visually impaired children and teenagers.
Fenton, who said he can see light and shadows with his left eye while his right eye is blurry, said New View Oklahoma’s Oklahomans Without Limits Camp offered him opportunities to participate in kayaking, beep baseball, swimming and more camp activities with other young people with similar visual impediments.
This year, the 24-year-old Yukon-area man joined OWL Camp as a counselor. He said New View Oklahoma’s new joint effort with Camp Classen made him think even more highly of the nonprofit: For the first time, sighted campers were paired with low vision and blind campers through a partnership with YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City’s Camp Classen.
“What they do for kids, especially, is upstanding,” Fenton said. “There’s a lot of kids here and they’re all having a blast.”
Jason Brown, executive director of Camp Classen, and Mark Ivy, OWL Camp counselor and New View Oklahoma’s adaptive sports manager, said New View has held OWL Camp at Camp Classen in Davis for many years. Brown, 61, said Camp Classen is a sprawling 2,200-outdoor space in the Arbuckle Mountains, so there has always been plenty of space over the years for the camp for the visually impaired to enjoy activities separate from Camp Classen campers.
However, he said bringing the Camp OWL campers together with sighted “buddies” from Camp Classen seemed like a good idea this year.
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Jason Brown, executive director of YMCA Camp Classen, talks with OWL Camp counselor and New View Oklahoma leader Mark Ivy as OWL (Oklahomans Without Limits) Camp continues at Camp Classen in Davis.
“The mission of the YMCA is to put Christian principles in practice through programs that build a healthy mind, body and spirit for all and so at Camp Classen, we take that very literally,” he said. “I think the ‘for all’ is something like this. It was an opportunity to serve kids that may not get to experience a traditional camp experience.”
Ivy, 35, said his low vision caused him to stop playing baseball at age 17 and driving at age 22. But, up until that time, he did most activities with sighted young people. He recalled a young relative who became visually impaired at a younger age and he watched him “grow up secluded from everything.”
Ivy said that’s not the case for many of the 11 OWL Campers and he liked the idea that they were getting opportunities to make new friends among sighted campers. He said the 2025 OWL Camp included mostly young people with low vision and one blind camper, ranging in age from 10 to 16.
“The beauty of it is, there are sighted campers intermingling with our blind campers and that’s the coolest thing this week,” he said. “I’ve had some of our blind kiddos say ‘I’ve never got to hang out with so many sighted kids that wanted to be my friend.'”
Brown said there wasn’t much that OWL Campers were doing that was different from the Camp Classen campers during camp activities. By mid-week, OWL Campers and their sighted buddies had already participated in fishing, swimming, archery and riflery, and some tried their hand at throwing tomahawks.
He said this inclusion was made possible after Camp Classen staff members invited OWL Camp counselors and leaders to visit the sprawling camp to help make recommendations for any modifications that needed to be made for visually impaired campers. One of the adjustments the OWL Camp leaders recommended was the placement of bright red tape along the steps leading from a pavilion to the swimming pool. Brown said this modification was made to help campers with low vision gauge the vicinity and depth of the steps as they made their way to and from the pool.
Camper Natalie Alsa-Ruiz pets a horse with the help of YMCA Camp Classen Equestrian Director Russell Gholson after OWL (Oklahomans Without Limits) Camp members participate in trail ride at Camp Classen in Davis, Oklahoma.
Brown said one of the more interesting activities was a beep baseball game that OWL Campers and leaders played with their sighted buddies and Camp Classen leaders. Beep baseball is a modified version of baseball designed for individuals who are blind or visually impaired. The game utilizes a beeping baseball and buzzing bases to allow players to locate the ball and bases using sound, rather than sight. Every player, with the exception of the pitcher and catcher, wears blindfolds to ensure fair play.
“All of our staff and sighted kids were blindfolded and everybody had a great time,” Brown said. “So, one of the things I love about this program is that no only are our OWL Campers benefitting, but also our traditional campers are learning things about being visually impaired and what have you, and I just I love that.”
Fenton, who experienced OWL Camp as a camper without the interaction with sighted campers, shared similar sentiments. He said he like the idea that visually impaired campers were empowered by participating in camp activities and their sighted buddies gained insight into what life was like for visually impaired individuals.
“These kids realize that just because they’re blind or visually impaired that they can still do everything everybody else can,” he said.
“It was something that I had to learn and I love helping other people realize that.”
OWL (Oklahomans Without Limits) Camper Joe Lekites prepares for a trail ride with Cecilia Bates, New View Oklahoma’s OWL Camp director, offering a pep talk at YMCA Camp Classen in Davis.
Happy trails
One of the highlights of OWL Camp was a trail ride through Camp Classen, which included sighted campers and OWL Camp leaders walking alongside the horses that visually impaired campers rode along the trail. Brown said enjoying the camp’s water slide and inflatable Waterblob were among campers’ favorite activities, but horseback riding was also popular.
This was evident as OWL Campers like Joe Lekites, 11, prepared to ride horses. As he was helped up into the saddle of a horse named Tonto, the preteen said he was enjoying all of the camp activities like making s’mores and preparing to portray a famous pop singer that evening to show off his talents.
Though he’d initially been nervous about what to expect from his first OWL Camp experience, he said he wasn’t nervous anymore.
“I just thought it was going to be overloaded with people,” he said. “It’s been really fun.”
Another OWL Camper Natalie Alsa-Ruiz opted to forego the trail ride but Russell Gholson, Camp Classen’s equestrian director, eventually persuaded her to help give treats to a horse. Before long, Alsa-Ruiz agreed to a brief horse ride, which caused Gholson to grin with satisfaction.
Standing nearby as the campers came back from their trail ride, Ivy said he was grateful that OWL Camp had returned to Camp Classen for the first time since 2018, and that this year’s camp included an inclusive twist.
“This is our first time in a long time,” Ivy said.
“We’re just happy to be back.”
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OWL Camp OK provides outdoor adventure for visually impaired kids