A Letter from our founder, Jason Catanese
Please consider donating to the Camp Catanese Foundation, a non-profit organization with a mission of giving students growing up in poverty educational access to college.
When we originally envisioned Camp Catanese, we did not anticipate how transformational the foundation would become for both our campers and staff, becoming the most anticipated week and events of the year. The belief in our students by so many donors is the reason why Alvaro is at Northwestern, Tania is at Phoenix College, Jocelyne is at Arizona State University, in addition to so many others. The biggest obstacle for so many of our students was never their drive, but rather, the lack of opportunity. The Camp Catanese Foundation, however, with the support of so many generous donors, has made it our mission to help face these challenges head on and provide opportunities to combat them throughout our camp and educational opportunities throughout the year.
In 2016, 150 students experienced Camp Catanese, attributing camp to being the most inspirational week of their year, helping them to strive for better grades, participate in more extra curricular activities, fill out college applications, and start to envision careers that they otherwise wouldn’t have dreamt about. In 2017, we had the opportunity to serve over 220 campers and saw our first cohort of seniors graduate! In 2018, we had the opportunity to serve 270 campers and saw our second cohort of seniors graduate high school! In 2019, we served 300 campers and saw 100% of our graduated seniors go to college or the military. In 2020, we served over 1,500 campers virtually through Camp Catanese virtual camps during the COVID-19 quarantine. Camp Catanese helped spark a belief that they could not only graduate high school but they WOULD go to college. In addition, 100% of our campers are on track to graduate high school, in spite of some of the high schools that our campers come from being known as “drop-out factories.” Over 90% of our graduated students are enrolled in college! Our camp is designed to inspire and bring out the best in everyone. Because of the support of so many generous donors, hundreds of high school students in Phoenix now believe that they will go to college, graduate, and be successful.
Some important data pieces to showcase the progress that Camp Catanese is making:
With your support, we are changing the way our campers view the world through Camp Catanese. What we have always believed is that we must do things differently in order to make the biggest impact we can. In today’s high schools, we want our students to think critically – but we have them memorize. We want our students to have intellectual curiosity – but we pad the schedule with easy courses. We want innovation – but we teach to a test. We want self-reliance, but we force students to sit and listen. America is falling behind in the world – ranked 31st in math, and every year we are losing more ground. But we have seen, through love, determination, and opportunity, we can fix this. We believe in this mission so much and believe that the work we are doing is changing lives.
We can change the poverty rate and the inequity of incarceration. We can change the broken connection between schools and communities. We can inspire a generation of kids to someday come back to their own communities and become teachers, community activists, change-makers, and leaders. Our camp counselors taught sessions where students built trebuchets using knowledge of physics, extracted DNA from strawberries, built robots, learned to code, learned how to budget, took personality tests, practiced taking vital signs, learned how to apply for scholarships and FAFSA, and so much more, helping spread our counselor’s love of learning to our campers. Not only did our campers leave envisioning themselves in careers in STEM and other professions, they are already talking about the day when they will get to be the counselors of our camp and help give back to the community that has given them so much. These future college students are fired up, engaged, and ready, and it is because of so many generous donors. What is happening is exciting and changing Phoenix education forever.
In order to reach our goals for both sending 450 kids to Camp Catanese summer and winter camps in 2021 and helping provide partial scholarships for our scholars to attend high schools and colleges of their choice, we are asking for your help.. If you are willing to donate, you would be helping so many kids. Please let us know if you are willing to donate. Any donation, big or small, makes a dramatic impact on the lives and trajectory of our amazing, smart, talented, beautiful, creative, and humble students!
If you wish to support our mission, please donate online via PayPal using the button at the top of this page or by sending a donation in the mail to:
The Camp Catanese Foundation
1 W. Campbell Ave., #2110
Phoenix, AZ 85013
We see our Camp and Foundation as a pivotal means to help all students endeavoring to attend college. 90% of the students that attend Camp are first-generation college students. 100% of our students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Many of our campers have never set foot on a college campus. Our model is unique because we have students living on a college campus, hearing from college admissions professionals about applying for scholarships, learning advanced math and science, and having fun together as a community. In addition, throughout this past year, we have held tutoring sessions, college application Saturdays, ACT prep sessions, and more, becoming more engaged in our campers’ lives throughout the year.
The Camp Catanese Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and we would be happy to provide documentation for your taxes.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
When we originally envisioned Camp Catanese, we did not anticipate how transformational the foundation would become for both our campers and staff, becoming the most anticipated week and events of the year. The belief in our students by so many donors is the reason why Alvaro is at Northwestern, Tania is at Phoenix College, Jocelyne is at Arizona State University, in addition to so many others. The biggest obstacle for so many of our students was never their drive, but rather, the lack of opportunity. The Camp Catanese Foundation, however, with the support of so many generous donors, has made it our mission to help face these challenges head on and provide opportunities to combat them throughout our camp and educational opportunities throughout the year.
In 2016, 150 students experienced Camp Catanese, attributing camp to being the most inspirational week of their year, helping them to strive for better grades, participate in more extra curricular activities, fill out college applications, and start to envision careers that they otherwise wouldn’t have dreamt about. In 2017, we had the opportunity to serve over 220 campers and saw our first cohort of seniors graduate! In 2018, we had the opportunity to serve 270 campers and saw our second cohort of seniors graduate high school! In 2019, we served 300 campers and saw 100% of our graduated seniors go to college or the military. In 2020, we served over 1,500 campers virtually through Camp Catanese virtual camps during the COVID-19 quarantine. Camp Catanese helped spark a belief that they could not only graduate high school but they WOULD go to college. In addition, 100% of our campers are on track to graduate high school, in spite of some of the high schools that our campers come from being known as “drop-out factories.” Over 90% of our graduated students are enrolled in college! Our camp is designed to inspire and bring out the best in everyone. Because of the support of so many generous donors, hundreds of high school students in Phoenix now believe that they will go to college, graduate, and be successful.
Some important data pieces to showcase the progress that Camp Catanese is making:
- When surveyed at camp, 100% of our campers believed that they learned the steps they can be taking now to prepare for college!
- 100% said that they were committed to taking the steps necessary to get into college!
- 100% of our seniors have graduated high school, many becoming the first in their families to do so!
- Our first cohort of campers are seniors in college and will graduate in the spring of 2021!
- 100% said Camp Catanese helped them feel more prepared for college!
- Over 90% of our graduates are enrolled in college!
With your support, we are changing the way our campers view the world through Camp Catanese. What we have always believed is that we must do things differently in order to make the biggest impact we can. In today’s high schools, we want our students to think critically – but we have them memorize. We want our students to have intellectual curiosity – but we pad the schedule with easy courses. We want innovation – but we teach to a test. We want self-reliance, but we force students to sit and listen. America is falling behind in the world – ranked 31st in math, and every year we are losing more ground. But we have seen, through love, determination, and opportunity, we can fix this. We believe in this mission so much and believe that the work we are doing is changing lives.
We can change the poverty rate and the inequity of incarceration. We can change the broken connection between schools and communities. We can inspire a generation of kids to someday come back to their own communities and become teachers, community activists, change-makers, and leaders. Our camp counselors taught sessions where students built trebuchets using knowledge of physics, extracted DNA from strawberries, built robots, learned to code, learned how to budget, took personality tests, practiced taking vital signs, learned how to apply for scholarships and FAFSA, and so much more, helping spread our counselor’s love of learning to our campers. Not only did our campers leave envisioning themselves in careers in STEM and other professions, they are already talking about the day when they will get to be the counselors of our camp and help give back to the community that has given them so much. These future college students are fired up, engaged, and ready, and it is because of so many generous donors. What is happening is exciting and changing Phoenix education forever.
In order to reach our goals for both sending 450 kids to Camp Catanese summer and winter camps in 2021 and helping provide partial scholarships for our scholars to attend high schools and colleges of their choice, we are asking for your help.. If you are willing to donate, you would be helping so many kids. Please let us know if you are willing to donate. Any donation, big or small, makes a dramatic impact on the lives and trajectory of our amazing, smart, talented, beautiful, creative, and humble students!
If you wish to support our mission, please donate online via PayPal using the button at the top of this page or by sending a donation in the mail to:
The Camp Catanese Foundation
1 W. Campbell Ave., #2110
Phoenix, AZ 85013
We see our Camp and Foundation as a pivotal means to help all students endeavoring to attend college. 90% of the students that attend Camp are first-generation college students. 100% of our students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. Many of our campers have never set foot on a college campus. Our model is unique because we have students living on a college campus, hearing from college admissions professionals about applying for scholarships, learning advanced math and science, and having fun together as a community. In addition, throughout this past year, we have held tutoring sessions, college application Saturdays, ACT prep sessions, and more, becoming more engaged in our campers’ lives throughout the year.
The Camp Catanese Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and we would be happy to provide documentation for your taxes.
Thank you for your time and consideration.