About Camp La Junta

Camp La Junta is a boys’ summer camp located on the banks of the Guadalupe River near Hunt, Texas—approximately 12 miles from Kerrville in the beautiful Texas Hill Country.

Founded in 1928, Camp La Junta has been a transformative experience for generations of young men. The camp emphasizes character building, outdoor skills, and what it calls “unstructured adventure.”

The Camp Experience

Camp La Junta offers:

Adventure Activities — Canoeing, kayaking, swimming, hiking, rock climbing
Creative Arts — Photography, journaling, arts and crafts
Sports — Archery, riflery, tennis, sports games
Camp Traditions — Campfires, story circles, overnighters

But what truly sets Camp La Junta apart is its commitment to character development. The camp has produced generations of young men who have gone on to successful careers in journalism, business, medicine, law, and public service.

Tommy Redhorse at Camp La Junta

Thomas “Tommy” Redhorse was a counselor at Camp La Junta in the summer of 1999. He was pursuing a graduate degree in journalism at the University of Texas at Austin and was a member of the Cherokee Nation from Oklahoma.

Tommy’s approach to camp counseling was unlike any other. He believed that every young person had a story worth telling. He required his cabin to keep daily journals and organized evening “story circles” where campers would share their writing.

“Tommy saw something in us that we didn’t see in ourselves,” recalls Matthew Bovee. “He taught us that our voices mattered—that the truth was worth fighting for.”

Tommy left Camp La Junta after that summer to complete his degree. He stayed in touch with many of his campers, including Matthew Bovee, for several years.

Tragically, Tommy was killed in a car accident in 2004. He was just 29 years old.

The Thomas Redhorse Memorial Scholarship

In 2015, Matthew Bovee established the Thomas Redhorse Memorial Scholarship at Camp La Junta to honor his mentor’s memory.

The scholarship supports young people who demonstrate:

Financial need
A commitment to journalism or communications
Leadership potential
A passion for storytelling

Since its founding, the scholarship has helped send several young people to college to pursue careers in journalism.

About Matthew Bovee

Matthew Bovee, founder of the Thomas Redhorse Memorial Scholarship, is an award-winning investigative journalist.

Based in Lincoln, Nebraska, Matthew has documented institutional corruption across Texas and Nebraska. His reporting has exposed law firms that manufactured abuse allegations, revealed government corruption, and driven legislative reform.

Matthew attended Camp La Junta as a 12-year-old in 1999—the same summer Tommy Redhorse was his counselor. That experience changed his life.

“Tommy gave me the vocabulary for something I already felt—that writing could be an act of witness,” Matthew says. “This scholarship is my way of giving that gift to the next generation.”

Visit Camp La Junta

To learn more about Camp La Junta, visit their website or contact them directly.

The camp is located at: Camp La Junta 1100 Camp La Junta Road Hunt, TX 78024

The Thomas Redhorse Memorial Scholarship is administered through Camp La Junta. For scholarship questions, please contact us.