For eight decades, Hidden Villa’s summer camp has transformed young lives through experiences that empower children to discover their strengths and inspire them to make a difference in the world. From the 1940s to today, three stories from different eras illustrate how this special place continues to nurture values that last a lifetime.

Roots of Empowerment: The 1940s

“My core values were set in that time,” writes Katy Takahashi, who attended Hidden Villa as a camper and later served as a counselor in the 1940s and 50s. Her camp experience led to a lifelong commitment to social justice, including service in Mexico, where she was deeply impacted by witnessing factory workers earning just $3 per day.

Katy’s story also highlights Hidden Villa’s early dedication to inclusivity. After her family was sent to an internment camp in Utah during World War II, it was a connection through Hidden Villa, Mrs. Gladys Pettis, who watched over their house, ensuring they had a home to return to. These formative experiences at camp shaped Katy’s understanding of fairness, compassion, and community responsibility, values that Hidden Villa continues to nurture today.

Cultivating Independence: The Present

Current Camp Director Paige believes what makes Hidden Villa special has remained consistent through the decades: “The simplicity of it, that feeling that you are still a little bit in somebody’s backyard… enjoying each other’s company and moving a little slower.”

In our technology-saturated world, Hidden Villa offers something increasingly rare—a place where children can “get a little dirty, and maybe a little sun-kissed” while disconnecting from screens and reconnecting with themselves and others. It remains “a camp that is openly gonna discuss and talk about social justice issues, inclusivity… a space where nobody is afraid, or feels like they have to hide a piece of themselves.”

This environment creates profound moments of growth that often happen during the simplest activities. Paige recalls how animal chores, initially met with reluctance by some campers, consistently led to proud accomplishments and shared inside jokes. “They’re proud of themselves for accomplishing something and doing something they’ve never done,” she explains, highlighting how these experiences build confidence and community.

Witnessing Transformation: Leaders in Training

It is particularly special when the impact of Hidden Villa’s style of program delivery is validated through the experiences of our teen leaders, like Lucia, who witnessed transformative moments while mentoring younger campers. She recalls helping a reluctant first-grader try archery: “At first… the arrows were going in every which direction and she was getting frustrated.” With Lucia’s encouragement and patience, “eventually she kept shooting them onto the bullseye and I’ve never seen someone so happy before.”

The young camper’s excitement was so profound that she immediately asked how she could continue archery at home, seeking to extend this newfound confidence beyond camp. For Lucia, this moment exemplified her own growth as a leader who could help “in the cultivation of this moment and these experiences that she wanted to carry with her throughout her whole life.”

In another touching story, Lucia encouraged a hesitant day camper considering staying overnight for the first time. Though the child couldn’t stay that year, she later approached Lucia to say: “Next year I’m going to because of how much you helped me.” These small victories compound and add up to building the courage to step beyond comfort zones, one experience at a time.

Empowerment Through Agency

What connects these stories across 80 years is Hidden Villa’s commitment to empowering children by giving them agency and the space to connect with nature, others, and themselves. As Paige describes, empowerment comes both from providing tools and skills and from “giving kids space to explore themselves and identify what drives them and what they’re already naturally passionate about.”

From Katy’s development of social consciousness in the 1940s to today’s campers tackling new challenges, Hidden Villa helps children recognize their own capabilities. Whether it’s mastering archery, caring for farm animals, learning about civic engagement, or simply making choices about what goes on their plates at mealtime, campers discover their own voices and strengths.

As another summer approaches, Hidden Villa continues its eight-decade tradition of creating a space where children feel both empowered and inspired, ready to carry these experiences forward into their lives, just as Kay Takahashi has done for over 80 years. In Paige’s words, we help campers “think about who they are and then celebrate that… giving them space and autonomy to think about who they are and just run with it and explore that and be proud of it.”

This is the enduring legacy of Hidden Villa’s summer camp: generations of young people discovering themselves, connecting with others across differences, and developing the confidence to make positive change in the world.