|
There are all sorts of quiet skills developed at camp that reveal themselves long after the songs fade and the cabins empty. The most important things campers leave with aren’t their crafts or that ‘really cool stick’. They’re tools. Not the kind you can hold, but the kind you carry. A toolbox of skills shaped by shared living, challenge, laughter, and growth that travels with them into the wider world. I was reminded of this recently while on a vacation travelling through rural Costa Rica. At one point, I found myself alone, very hungry, and in an area where I didn’t speak the language and those around me didn’t speak mine. I was trying to communicate a food allergy while ordering a meal, relying on gestures, patience, and mutual goodwill. It could have been very stressful. Yet as the interaction unfolded, I noticed something unexpected. I felt steady. I knew I was capable of sorting it out, and that I had enough resources (aside from the language) to make it work. I was reaching instinctively for tools I didn’t consciously realize I had packed in my carry-on. I recognize now where many of those tools were first given to me: summer camp. As a camper, I learned how to communicate across differences, maintain patience through struggle, and extend care and compassion to others in challenging moments. I learned to notice my environment, to adapt, and to trust my own abilities. These aren’t skills that were taught in a single lesson. They’re honed over time through living in community. Through navigating friendships. Through being mentored by older campers and staff. Through trying, stumbling, adjusting, and trying again. Campers arrive with tools that may feel small, rusty, or second-hand. But with encouragement and practice, they strengthen them. They add new ones. They discover how to use them. Eventually, they carry away a remarkably capable toolbox. Years later, those tools appear in unexpected places: in workplaces, relationships, travels, and challenges far from camp’s familiar forests. They surface in moments that require empathy, resilience, communication, and confidence. They help young people move through uncertainty with steadiness and curiosity. That is one of the deepest purposes of camp. Beyond the activities and traditions, camp offers children the experiences to build and refine the inner tools that will support them for a lifetime. It’s why I, as someone who has known camp’s impact, feel called to help create those experiences for others. What’s a tool that you’ve gained from an experience at camp?
Carter Mahoney / Executive Director
|
