Forget fashion and cliques at Circle V

As identical twins, Destiny and Briana Meza both know that to stay in the “cool clique” they’re in at school, strict rules apply.

“You can’t be a girlie girl,” said Briana, 10. “No skirts allowed.”

Jeans -- skinny jeans -- are preferable.

Briana and Destiny, who live in Rosemead with their grandmother, will get a chance to leave all things cool -- and uncool -- behind for a week to go to summer camp for the first time this August.

“They’ve never been to camp -- only what they see on TV,” said Linda Arzaga, their grandmother, who has raised them since they were infants.

About 1,200 low-income children, ages 7 to 13, attend a weeklong session at Circle V Ranch Camp, located in the Los Padres Forest of Santa Barbara, during the summer.

The camp is run by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Council of Los Angeles, an organization that provides programming for underprivileged children and the homeless.

“It gives a lot of the children we serve an opportunity to see an experience outside of the city,” said camp coordinator Fina Morga.

“Some of the children have never seen the beach. It gives them a chance to just be a kid,” Morga said.

Though the Meza girls do everything together, their grandmother knows sending them to camp will give them a chance to gain independence from her and from each other.

“I guess because I can’t afford to send them to a lot of things, I want them to enjoy nature and I want them to learn to be a little independent and expose them to as much as possible when they’re still young,” Arzaga said.

Destiny, who wants to be a singer-dancer-fashion designer when she grows up, and Briana, who wants to be a teacher-singer, said that if they decide to sing and perform at camp, it’s bound to be together.

“We do everything together,” Briana said. “We never separate -- sometimes we say the same thing at once.”

Thanks to the $1.7 million raised last year by the Los Angeles Times Summer Camp Campaign, about 8,000 children will go to camp in Southern California this summer.

The Los Angeles Times Family Fund is a fund of the McCormick Foundation, which matches all donations at 50 cents on the dollar.

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nicole.loomis@latimes.com