Catholic Youth Camp is a faith driven and fun filled summer camp offered to youth of all backgrounds. CYC is hosted at the St. Thomas More Center and located in the Diocese of Des Moines in Panora, Iowa. For eleven amazing individual weeks, over 1500 kids will come to camp to rock climb, zip line, canoe, swim, dance and sing, pray and worship.

From June to August, around 175 high school to college-aged young adults volunteer to counsel one week at CYC. Our counselors love their faith and share a desire to serve our campers. They also happen to be the goofiest people we know, enjoy spontaneous dance parties, and are not afraid to step outside their comfort zone. 

Each week, Counselors are responsible for a lot of the FUN that happens at CYC. With the help of your director, you will run many of Catholic Youth Camp’s daily events. Depending on the week, you may host a talent show, perform in an epic lip sync battle, or lead songs around the campfire. Counselors also help facilitate some of our outdoor activities (archery, canoeing, gaga ball, etc.) and team up with our summer staff to lead a cabin of around twenty campers.

Counselors get to invest in our campers by building relationships within their cabins and small groups. You must work hard to learn names and faces, be available to campers at any hour by sleeping in the cabins, and be willing to pitch in on things like dish team and end of camp cleaning. Because counseling will require full focus and energy, cell phones and other electronics will generally not be allowed during the week. Aside from 2-3 evening socials, this is a fast paced, high energy, 24/7 volunteer experience.