At Liberty Lake Day Camp, which is spread across 60 acres in Burlington County‘s Mansfield Township, you’ll find a lot more than a bunch of kids clustered together roasting wienies and singing Kumbaya.
  This is summer camp with sports and adventure, an academic bite and an individualistic twist, where elementary-age kids still can play softball and learn to tie a rope, but can also study rocketry and rapping, or underwater photography and archery.
  “We don’t make the kids do things that they don’t like,” says Andy Pritikin, Liberty Lake creator and camping maestro. “We are a place for all kinds of kids. If they don’t like team sports, fine. We have archery. Or rock climbing. Or mountain boarding.”
  Plus, most of the camp’s activities, whether that be cooking class or boating instruction, or participation in the camp theater (this summer Suessical the Musical will be performed), are chosen by the campers themselves as electives.
  About to begin its seventh season, just off Route 295- Exit 52A and surrounding a 7-acre lake, Pritikin’s Liberty Lake was enjoyed by more than 1,000 youngsters who visited for 2-10 weeks, five days a week. Pritikin provides transportation for the kids from South Jersey towns, sending out 20 buses each weekday morning to popular pickup spots like the Haddonfield Acme, Cherry Hill East High School and the Moorestown Library.
  The cost ranges from $1,000-$4000 per camper, but Pritikin offers numerous discount opportunities for siblings, military families, children of teachers, or parents who drive their kids to the camp, for instances.
  The camp officially begins each weekday morning at 8:45 and ends in the afternoon at 4, but Liberty Lake has extended hours from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. to accommodate the most harried parents. It also provides access to a special, private Web access so mom and dad can dial up camp webcams from work and also view continuously posted photos of camp activities.
  All of this customization and personalized care, including a 5-to-1 ratio of campers to staff, the majority of whom are college students or certified teachers on summer break, could make Liberty Lake ‘pricey,’ admits  Pritikin, a board member of the American Camp Association.
  “My goal is to get a price that is more affordable across the board to parents,” he said.
  That could mean future Pritikin-style camps being managed by his team at other people’s facilities, such as public schools or parks. His largest expense, besides staff, is the constant care and upgrade of the facilities at Liberty Lake.  Last year alone he spent $400,000 on capital improvements.
  He balances that by opening the camp on weekends for family reunions and corporate events, with companies like CVS, Novo Nordisk, and state unions, bringing in their employees or members for a day of being catered to by Pritikin’s staff. There were 110 different events last summer alone.
  Still, Pritikin, who grew up in North Jersey, studied music at Hofstra on Long Island but then got hooked on camping, sees his future in day camps for kids, where he constantly tries to improve his programs in specialized instruction for outdoor-related, athletic and academic activities.
  “And that’s important for the parents that we keep innovating,” he says. “It’s still a leap of faith for some parents to send their kids to camp.  Especially if your only point of reference is the movies, Meatballs, or Ernest Goes to Camp! Hopefully, we are getting way beyond that image.”
  That’s not to say Lake Liberty Day Camp doesn’t let its hair down and hoe down now and then.
This summer’s calendar has the following notation:  July 9, Chocolate Pudding Tug of War.