Summer Camp is a time of firsts. The first time you try to catch a ball with a lacrosse stick (and realize you can!). The first time you get on on water-skis. The first time deke the goalie in soccer. The fist time you get up on stage in front of hundreds of kids your age. The first time you scale the climbing tower. Now that camp has ended for the summer and everyone is getting ready for the school year, we thought we’d share some tales from camp. What have the kids taken home with them to last the next 9 months, until camp starts again?
Many families are surprised at the sheer amount of first-time experiences their kids have at summer camp. When Justin, a 12 year old who attended camp this year, was asked to list things he did for the first time at camp, he had quite the list. “I learned how to play guitar, archery, and golf,” he said. During our conversation, it also came out that he also learned new baseball skills and got to play tennis. He also experienced the camp evening programs for the first time, which he raved about as being “fun and creative.” Justin’s going to be talking to a lot of people about camp when he goes back to school. And what is he going to tell them? “I made a lot of new friends and tried a lot of new things. I had the best time!”
My own summer camp experiences – way back in the 80s – were largely defined by a feeling of the summer camp community diffusing at the end of the summer. Back then, we would often promise to write letters we never sent or make long distance calls our parents wouldn’t pay for, but when summer was over, camp was tucked firmly behind us for another year.
With today’s technology, however, the summer camp community can stay together all year, even when they return to the home cities, states and countries. Camp Starlight has an active Facebook community where current campers, families and alumni can connect, share stories and keep up to date with the staff and the current session. In these waning days of August, much of the chatter is about how much everyone misses camp and wishes they were back on the lake, singing in the dining hall, etc.
One recent thread on the Starlight Facebook page for example, brought years of alumni together to share memories of their end-of-the-season Olympics.
Susan
Miller knows that some families have reservations about sending their children to a full-season, seven-week camp, especially when campers can start as young as third or fourth grade, but the benefits are tremendous. Rather than kids moving from camp to camp, week to week, there is truly time for kids to unwind, escape from the outside world and all its pressures and disconnect from technology. This type of summer program provides a real opportunity for kids to be themselves, get to know each other and make friendships that truly last a lifetime. There is no question that this is why such an extraordinarily high rate of campers return summer after summer. The summer is also long enough to do full season camp and still have family time to visit relatives or have a family vacation before school starts.
