A PPT Story of the First Shady Trails Reunion
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About the presenter: Judith Kuster M.S. in speech-language pathology and M.S. in counseling, is an ASHA Fellow and emeritus professor of Communication Disorders at Minnesota State University, Mankato. She is the webmaster for the Stuttering Home Page as well as the coordinator of this online conference. She is a member of the ASHA Special Interest Group #4: Fluency and Fluency Disorders. She is the recipient of the ASHF DiCarlo Award for Outstanding Clinical Achievement, the 2003 Distinguished Contributor Award from the International Fluency Association, a 2007 Outstanding Contribution Award from the International Stuttering Association, the 2008 ASHA Distinguished Contributor Award, and in 2009 was named to the National Stuttering Association's Hall of Fame |
A PPT Story of the FIRST Shady Trails Reunion
by Judy Kuster
from Minnesota, USA
A reunion of Shady Trails, a "Speech Improvement Camp of the University of Michigan" from 1932 - 1995. Information about the camp from mimeographed material from 1962 shared some of the history of the camp. In the summer of 1932, John Clancy started Camp Shady Trails for boys with speech problems, focused for many years on stuttering. Clancy himself was a person who stuttered. He and his wife who became the "Camp Mother" and dietitian ran the camp for many years.
The first camp location was a wooded area on Grand Traverse Bay, a few miles north of the present location. All the activities took place in and around a small hotel and a few cottages.
There were four boys at Shady Trails the first summer. The second year, six boys attended the camp. By 1934, the number of campers had grown to fifteen. By 1947, the camp was bursting at the seams, and a move was made and Shady Trails consisted of 19 buildings. The Park Avenue, Roost, Neophytes, Wolverines, Cave, and the University Club are the names of the cabins in which the campers lived. The women staff members lived in the Hen House; Mr. and Mrs. Clancy had a cabin. There was also an infirmary, a language training room, a remedial reading room, and a room dedicate to children who had a cleft palate. A Lodge was used for meals, variety shows, movies and Sunday morning assembly.
In the 63 years the original Shady Trails was open, it expanded and served thousands of boys and girls with speech or hearing challenges.
The camp no longer focuses on children with communicative disorders, but still functions each summer as a day camp for children. In August 2012, the camp owner and director allowed a reunion of people who had attended the original Shady Trails Camp. Attached is a PowerPoint sharing that special opportunity.
The Story of the FIRST Shady Trails Reunion - a PDF of pictures and information
SUBMITTED: September 5, 2012
