I am a city girl through and through, a statement I am reminded of when we took a walk down memory lane around my brother’s summer camp. As I carefully find my footing as we walk from rock to rock, I watch my brother move swiftly as if he were there yesterday as he points out all his favourite spots. From age 11-16, my brother went away every summer for 1 month to an all boys away camp. From my point of view, he would disappear and I assumed he would spend his time staying up late, not showering and doing “boy” things. Little did I know that his time there would prove to be much more valuable than even he knew.
As we walk from cabin to cabin, he tells us stories of different activities and campers; I become curious about what hidden learning occurred while he was at camp. I slowly start asking about different lessons learned and he says it is hard to put it into words. He takes us on a journey through his memories, he hunts for a bunk that he scribed his name in BIG letters, the anticipation and nostalgia was palpable, as he does so I begin to observe a few key learnings;
- time to grow – away from parental supervision, imagination takes over
- value for tradition
- appreciation of nature
- opportunity to ignite passion – skill development for massive fire building
- a place to overcome fears – obstacle course in the trees particularly
- peers to experiment with – “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.” – Ellen Parr
- learning to trust yourself
- work as a team
He describes it as magic… a lot must have happened over those summers, because the excitement and emotions I witnessed was a pleasure.