Bend park and rec camp mixes healthy eating with cooking fun
Published 11:00 pm Wednesday, July 2, 2025
The Bend Park & Recreation District is running a multi-session cooking camp this summer that combines learning to cook with kitchen safety and healthy eating.
Taught by registered dietitian Colene Stoernell, the camp will run four days a week across three sessions. The first week focused on breakfast, next week tackles snacks and the final session in early August will teach kids to make simple dinners.
“One of the activities we were talking about was how to do a balanced breakfast and what food components to have,” said Stoernell. “I change it to components rather than food groups just out of just neutrality, because that’s the biggest thing I see missing in nutrition education, is food neutrality.”
From her work as a dietician, Stoernell knew that this kind of camp would be useful. She brought up the idea to the park district last fall and was excited to get started. Eleven kids are in the first camp, and she said it was going well. The kids put together pancakes and breakfast burritos, and by the middle of the week they were expected to use knives and the oven on their own. Stoernell’s enjoyed helping them through challenges and teaching them that cleaning is part of cooking as well, she said.
“The biggest (challenge), which I know because I have a kiddo myself, is ovens. And so today was like a huge win for a lot of kiddos because they were terrified when we first started because they looked at me like, I have to put this in?” she said. “And I’m like, yes. So it’s just building skills and confidence and also allowing them just to create whatever they want because a lot of kids just don’t have that opportunity at home.”
During the second week, when kids talk about snacks, Stoernell wanted to focus on getting them to try new things.
“They’re going to be creating trail mixes, making … energy balls. So next week’s actually a little bit more low-key, but it’s still an important thing for them to be able to just understand what a balanced snack is and what kind of food components we’re looking for in a snack instead of just popcorn or something like that,” she said.
Stoernell wants kids to gain confidence and know that it’s okay to explore.
“It’s okay to make mistakes. And it’s also okay to not feel quite comfortable for trying something at a particular time,” she said. “You know, let’s explore what we can do. And that, again, just giving them that safe space.”
Cooking is a valuable skill for anyone, she said.
New opportunities at park district
Brian Hames, art and enrichment supervisor for the Bend Park & Recreation District, manages the camp. Each session has 12 slots for kids ages 9 to 12. Hames said the park district has held various cooking camps, especially focused on cultural cooking, but less so on nutrition. Parents reached out asking for a camp based on healthy eating, he said.
“So part of the camp is cooking, but the other part of it is also learning about balanced diet eating,” he said. “Very important for youth today, especially with the growing rates of obesity and diabetes and things like that. Giving kids an opportunity to learn that healthy eating can be fun.”
The camp is held at Cascade Middle School, which has a space big enough for a larger group, unlike other park district facilities.
“I would say my goal would be kids could walk away with A) learning a new skill whether it be something they’ve never cooked before or just a new technique in the kitchen,” said Hames. “The other part would be learning some better eating habits. So learning about foods that you know go together well and help grow healthy strong communities. And I think C) would just be kind of like a combo of those things where healthy eating can be fun and delicious so that they shouldn’t be scared to try new foods as well. That’s a great resource for these kids to be able to learn to start feeding themselves or, you know, ‘hey, thanks for the camp. Let me mom and dad or whoever paid for the camp, let me let me cook you something in return.’”
About Noemi Arellano-Summer
Noemi Arellano-Summer is schools, youth and families reporter at the Bulletin. She previously reported on homelessness and the 2020 eviction moratorium with the Howard Center of Investigative Journalism through Boston University. She was raised in Long Beach, California, where she started her journalism career reporting for her high school newspaper. In her free time, she can be found meandering through a bookstore or writing short stories.
She can be reached at noemi.arellano-summer@bendbulletin.com and 541-383-0325.
