Camp Tiger, now in its 16th year, gets underway tomorrow.

This is a time when medical students from LSU Health Shreveport's Classes of 2018 and 2019 get to spend most of the week away from the classroom and in the community, running the camp organized entirely by them.

The five-day camp serves children between the ages of 5 and 12 who have physical and intellectual disabilities, free of charge. They'll get to visit places like Sci-Port, Holiday Lanes, Gator & Friends and St. Mark's Cathedral.

Here's more about Camp Tiger, courtesy of an LSUHS news release:

After almost a year of planning and preliminary work, the first Camp Tiger here at LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport took place in June of 2000, using as a model a similar camp format begun in 1985 at LSU School of Medicine in New Orleans. Camp Tiger, from the beginning, has been planned, organized and staffed solely by volunteers from the medical school classes. Since Camp Tiger’s inception in Shreveport in June of 2000, the medical students have managed to run Camp Tiger each year thereafter.

Medical students engage in many months of advance planning, securing charter bus transportation for campers; food, event and location sponsors; and fund-raising to pay for all expenses.

Camp Tiger provides these children from the Shreveport-Bossier City area with the opportunity to participate in activities that may not normally be available to them. At the same time, medical students have the opportunity to gain valuable health-care experience by working with children who have special needs. Children who participate in the program live with such handicaps as Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism, and epilepsy.

Visit www.camptigershreveport.com for more information.

CHECK OUT VIDEO FROM LAST YEAR'S CAMP:

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