MARTINSVILLE, Ind. — With clenched fists and an open-mouthed smile, Shawn Parkhurst screamed with excitement, mimicking his reaction to water skiing for the first time.

“I was like ahhhhhhhhh!” Parkhurst, 12, yelled.

Parkhurst, of Anderson, is one of 223 campers making the trip to Indiana University’s Bradford Woods this summer to experience Camp Riley.

Thursday afternoon he swam across the 110-acre Old Swimmin Hole Lake for part of Challenge Day activities.

As his third summer at camp came to a close, he shared all his favorite activities from the last two weeks.

“I catch a fish and went swimming. I went in a Jeep,” he said. “I brushed the animals — horses — no cows.”

With help from his cabin head, Kirsty Taylor, Parkhurst kept track of his daily activities.

“We have a picture schedule to help him remember,” Taylor said. “What cabin are we in, Shawn?”

He shyly whispered in her ear the name Raymond Cabin. Both smiled and said, “the best cabin.”

As they spoke of the other camp activities, Parkhurst grew excited, especially at the mention of dancing.

“I shook my booty,” he said. “Next time I’ll shake my booty like a monster.”

The monster he then referenced as a character from the movie “Monster’s Ink.”

“There’s one that’s green with one eye and a blue monster,” Parkhurst said.

He quickly changed pace, asking when he would get to ride bikes or play basketball again.

“He likes basketball,” Taylor said. “He’s got quite a 3-pointer, this guy.”

Taylor said this was her first summer at Camp Riley. The Glasgow, Scotland, native is working on her masters in social work from Glasgow University.

“I had a good idea about what camp would be like,” she said. “The website was really good, but I’m still surprised by the size and the facility.”

She is part of a summer staff that includes 80 to 100 seasonal employees and 40 to 60 volunteers.

Since 1955, Camp Riley has seen more than 12,000 children. In 2011, 223 campers from 65 Indiana counties and five states attended one of the camp sessions, said Jason Mueller.

“More people should know about Camp Riley,” he said. “There are parents with children that would benefit from the camp.”

Mueller, the communications manager from the Riley Children’s Foundation, said there was a big push this year to get the word out about Camp Riley. The result was an influx of 50 new campers.

“I want to give these campers the same experience we had as children,” Cecille Domingo said.

Domingo, the director of therapeutic recreation, started at Camp Riley almost 10 years ago.

“I started as a cabin head,” she said. “I just stuck with the program.”

The three-month camp season takes nine months of planning, she said.

“The staff is intentionally recruited,” Domingo said. “They are all in related fields: med school, nursing, therapy and social work. It’s a field they already have a passion for and a personal love for.”

Most staff members are college students working on internships.

“They come from the U.S. and abroad,” she said. “We have 27 international students this year.”

Her sentence trailed off as she walked near the finish line of Cardiac Hill to cheer on a camper making the climb.

“Come on, John, you’re almost there!” she yelled.

Climbing Cardiac Hill, a steep, paved road, is a challenge most, if not all, campers take part. John Maynard was no exception.

“The last year, I walked Cardiac Hill,” said Maynard, 16, from Anderson. “This year I’m wheeling myself up.”

The soon-to-be junior at Anderson High School likes camp Riley for the sense of independence it offers.

“I wanted to do something that was mine,” Maynard said.

This was his fifth year at camp although he hasn’t been in the last few years because of conflicts with family vacations. He enjoys family activities but said he looked forward to time away.

“There’s seven of us in one house at home,” he said. “It gets kind crazy.”

His favorite camp activities included adaptive water skiing, scuba diving and fishing.

He said he loved the sense of peace fishing gave him. Maynard added that he often visits his aunt and uncle’s Chapman Lake house to fish.

“I enjoy it. It’s relaxing,” he said. “The older I get, the more patient I am, but I get antsy too. I think that’s why I only caught one fish the other day.”

While away at Camp Riley, Maynard gets to see old friends while making new ones. He longs for a free day to socialize.

His two-week stay enrolled in the Venture Camp session kept him busy. Camp Riley pushes older campers as part of a pursuits-of-excellence program. The program helps teens set goals above and beyond daily activity.

Maynard said he looked forward to playing basketball and for the start of the school year in the fall once he returned home.

“I’m ready for it (high school) to end but sometimes I’m like slow down,” he said. “My sophomore year just ended and, I’m like, where did it go? Just yesterday I was wheeling in as a freshman.”

A motor head at heart, Maynard hopes to someday combine his love of fixing cars with his computer passion.

“I’d like to create adaptive things for like wheelchairs or for people with disabilities,” he said.

Contact April Abernathy: 640-4861 or april.abernathy@heraldbulletin.com