FAQs: About Cabinmate Requests
What is the camp's philosophy on cabinmate requests?
Remember that old song, "Make new friends, but keep the old"? Our philosophy is to balance the opportunity to meet new people with the comfort of being with friends. So, we do honor cabinmate requests, but our policy tries to make sure that either no more than half of the campers in a cabin know each other or else everyone knows each other before they arrive to camp.
Campers who are on a Cabinmate Request List together are guaranteed to be in the same cabin. When assigning cabins, multiple "lists" of campers of similar age are put together to fill a cabin. For example, we might assign a group of 4 with a group of 3 and another group of 3 to fill a cabin of 10 campers. Campers who are not coming with friends are grouped into cabins with at least two other campers who are also not coming with friends.
Unless you have a group large enough to fill an entire cabin (typically 9 for 2nd, 3rd or 4th graders and 10 or 11 campers for 5th to 10th graders), a maximum of 4 campers for one-week sessions and 5 campers for two-week sessions can request to be together. Because nearly all one-week campers that are currently in 7th grade or higher live in cabins that hold 10 or 11 campers, these 7th-10th grade campers can have up to 5 in a group together. For 5th and 6th grade one-week campers, we have a limited number of five-person cabinmate request lists. To organize a group of five campers one-week campers that are 5th and/or 6th graders, please contact our office. If you have a group to fill an entire cabin (typically 9 for 2nd-4th graders and 10 or 11 campers for 5th to 10th graders), please contact our office. If there is availability for the appropriate size cabin for your session, we will work with you to make the arrangements.
What is a Cabinmate Request List? Do I have to have one?
A Cabinmate Request List is a list of campers that want to be together in a cabin. Cabinmate Request Lists must be made up of campers who are in the same length of session (One-week or Two-week) and who are in the same grade or within one grade of each other (unless you are filling an entire cabin).
For one-week campers, there are 8-11 campers in a cabin, so their Cabinmate Request Lists can have up to 4 for younger campers and up to 5 for older campers (see graphic above).
For two-week campers, there are 10 or 11 campers in most cabins, so Cabinmate Request Lists can have up to 5 campers.
Singles are folks who come to camp not knowing anyone or who choose not to be placed with campers that they know so that they can maximize their chances of meeting new people and making new friends. Many campers come as singles, so campers certainly do not have to be on a Cabinmate Request List. For any cabin with singles, there will always be at least 3 singles in that cabin whenever possible.
Is it guaranteed that all of the people on my Cabinmate Request List will be together in a cabin?
Yes. As long as you meet the criteria for being together in a cabin listed below, you are guaranteed to be together. Your group will be combined with other groups or singles to form an entire cabin.
Remember that we don't actually finalize cabin assignments until a few days before you arrive at camp. You'll be able to see your cabin assignment on the Thursday before you arrive at camp using your Camper's Home Page.
How do I join, change or create a Cabinmate Request List?
After you have registered for camp, the easiest place to join, create or make changes to your cabinmate requests is from your Camper Home Page. You can access your camper home page after you have logged in using the Log In button above.
Once you've gotten to your Camper Home Page, click on the gray button labeled "Cabinmate Requests."
Do I have to figure out my cabin request list during registration or can I do it later?
No, you do not have to figure out your cabinmate requests during registration. After you've registered, you can access this section any time you like from your Camper Home Page. You can make changes to your request up until June 1st.
Who can I be in a cabin with?
You can be in a cabin with anyone who wants to be with you and who meets the following criteria. All members of a Cabinmate Request List must:
Be in the same camp session - remember that two-week campers and one-week campers cannot be together in a cabin, as they have different housing.
Be the same sex (as assigned at birth)
ANDBe in the same grade or within one grade in school. Remember that cabinmate request lists can only span two grades in total. So, for example, a 3rd grade male can be with a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th grade male in general. But, that same 3rd grader cannot be with both a 2nd and a 4th grader. Why? Because a Cabinmate Request List can span no more than two grades.
Multiple cabinmate request lists that are not within this age spread CAN be combined if you can fill an entire one-week cabin of 8-11 campers (see graphic above). So, a group of five one-week girls in 6th grade CAN be with another group of five one-week girls in 8th grade if all ten campers’ families agree. This might represent the situation for two sisters and each of their friends, or maybe a group of cousins, for example. In order to make this happen, please contact our office .
What if more than 5 campers want to be together in a cabin?
This is not possible, unless you have a large enough group to fill an entire cabin. So, if you do not, then you will need to break up the larger list into multiple smaller lists. For example, a group of 7 two-week campers can break up into a list of 3 and 4, 5 and 2, or 2 lists of 2 and a list of 3. Or, if they can find three more friends, they can contact the office to see if we are able to arrange for them to fill an entire cabin as a group of 10.
Cabinmate Request Lists cannot request to be put together with other Cabinmate Request Lists unless the two lists would fill an entire cabin or lodge room of 8, 9, 10 or 11 (based on age and availability - see graphic above). In other words, now that a list of 7 has split into a lists of 4 and a list of 3, the two lists cannot request to be together so as to recreate the list of 7 again. If you are interested in filling an entire cabin/lodge room, please contact our office for assistance.
My friend isn't signed up for camp yet. How can I hold a space on my list for them?
You can hold spaces in a list by "locking" a list. Lists can be locked and unlocked at any time by anyone who is already a part of the list.
For example, if you and one friend are already in camp and are both on the same list, then you are currently a list of 2. Lock your list until your second friend gets in. Once the second friend is confirmed into your camp session, you can unlock your list to let them in. If you want, you can then lock your list of 3.
Can I make changes to my requests? Until when?
Yes. You can remove yourself from a list and/or join another list as many times as you like. You can change your requests up until June 1st.
You cannot remove other people from your list or add other people to your list. You can only change the list that you are on. If you want to change who is on your list, you can remove yourself from a list and create a new one. Then you can lock/unlock it as necessary so that those you want to join you will be able to do so.
What do I do if someone joins my list that I don't know or don’t want to be with?
You can remove yourself from that list and create and/or choose another list. If necessary, you can "lock" your new list so that other people cannot join your new list.
How can I add myself to a list that is locked?
If a list is locked, you cannot join that list until it is unlocked. Any current member of the list can login and unlock the list so that you can get on it. You will need to be able to contact one of the existing members of the list so that they can unlock it for you. To protect our campers' private information, Sandy Hill will not provide contact other campers information for to you to do this. We assume that if you want to be together, you will have the friend's contact information.
Who can "unlock" a list?
Any current member of a cabin request list can lock and unlock a list from their Camper Home Page.
Last updated October 18, 2023