Camp master brings Star Wars, Harry Potter to life

Camp master brings Star Wars, Harry Potter to life
Middletown Journal
By Justin McClelland
12/10/12

When Jeff Merhige looks out his office windows onto the grounds of YMCA Camp Kern, he sees not only woods and campfire rings, but also the distant planet of Naboo and a training camp for the children of Greek and Roman mythological gods.

Merhige has become one of the most well-respected camp program designers in the country. Camp programs designed by Merhige and based on licensed properties like Star Wars, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the Ranger’s Apprentice are now being used by hundreds of camps around the country.
“In camping, there have always been theme weeks,” Merhige said. “Stuff like magic week. At Camp Kern, we changed that up by creating games that would use stories the kids were already familiar with and bringing them to life in a way that got them active, promoted positive values and let their imaginations flow.”
Merhige’s venture into theme camps began five years ago when he made contact with LucasFilms about developing some camp games based around the Clone Wars, an offshoot cartoon of the Star Wars mythology on the Cartoon network.
“Clone Wars was great because so many generations relate to Star Wars,” Merhige said. “My eight year old son loves Clone Wars and as an adult I can relate because I’ve been with these character for literally decades.”

Among the games Merhige developed were a jedi training camp that promoted teamwork and positive self esteem and a competition of the Planetary Olympics.
“These literary camps encourage reading and bring reading to life,” Merhige said. “Our goal is to have a lot of educational values within the camp and the games.”
From Clone Wars, Merhige has worked with several other companies to develop fully licensed games based on their properties, including the television show “Falling Skies” and young adult book series Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and The Ranger’s Apprentice.

“Basically I’m always reading young adult books now and trying to envision scenes that could be played out in camps,” Merhige said.

The plans are designed for use in either residential or day camps and are given out free of charge to outdoor camps around the world. To make the worlds a success, each staffer at the camp must be intimately familiar with the work and be able to become a given character that will interact with the children.
Merhige’s success in designing the camps has led to some meetings with personal heroes. Merhige was able to tour LucasFilm’s facilities and talk with George Lucas’s right hand people.

Earlier this year, John Flanagan, the author of the Ranger’s Apprentice made a special stop at Camp Kern to meet with Merhige and see the camp Merhige had created based n Flanagan’s ideas.

“It was incredible,” Merhige said. “I think he could see the time and devotion we had put into the camp and really appreciated we were staying true to his vision.”
“Jeff is a very passionate leader at the camp organization, both at his level and nationally as well,” said Lisa Kelly, associate marketing director for middle grade and young adult books at Penguin Young Readers Group, the publishers of the Ranger’s Apprentice series. “I know he works hard with his staff to make sure camps are a lot of fun and brings kids back to the story. I know author John Flanagan was very impressed. It was really special that we were able to make time for him to visit the camp.”