Camp of Rock Teaches Girls More Than Music

Aug. 10, 2007 — -- In an old, industrial sewing machine factory in Portland, Ore., you don't ever hear any mechanical noises. Instead, you might drive by and hear a Jimmy Hendrix tune roaring from the warehouse.

Welcome to the Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls, where the motto is "We put the 'amp' in camp." Over the course of three weeks, girls ranging in age from 8 to 18 spend one week singing, head banging, playing music and writing their very own songs. Yes, that's right, it's for girls only.

The camp's mission is to build girls' self-esteem through music creation and performance.

"We are a self-esteem development program," explains the camp's program director. "We use music education, mentorship and community building. … Taking away the boy aspect makes girls more relaxed because they don't have to constantly compare themselves to what the boys are doing."

When "Nightline" visited, we learned that there's no such thing as "too loud" or "too uninhibited" at this camp. From one room we heard some drums, some bass guitar jamming, and a lot of rockin':

I am a rock star
I have a limo
It's very nice, I forgot the price
My hair is blue
My hairspray is like glue
You can hear my music far and near
Because I am a rock star and I'm going far.

The budding rock stars are part of the self-named group he Orange Bananas, and they were rehearsing a song written by band member Honor Levy, who played bass guitar. Honor, only 9 years old, is back at camp for the second summer. On the first day of camp, she found her band mates and began writing and composing their song.

Honor lives in Los Angeles, but for the past two summers has come to Portland to stay with her grandmother, Fridee Lunt, just so she can attend camp. And, like many of the girls, Honor isn't at camp just for the music.

"Every time Honor comes home she feels as though there isn't anything she can't do. She can make music, she can be heard," said Lunt. "There isn't anything that she misses talking about. It's great."