Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships A few weeks ago, Jordan Cohen (unit leader) called me out of the blue. He’d been thinking about it for a while and had the whole thing worked out by the time we got on the phone. Cole, his cousin, was already signed up to run it with him, had a name for it, and both knew what mornings would actually look like. Fitness First. First period of the day for some Kenwood boys, run by the two of them. The format will move around...
11 days ago • 3 min read
Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships Dr. Schott and Pam Schott had no idea what a playdate was. I mean, maybe they could have defined it if given some context. But it just wasn’t a thing. This was Rochester, New York, in the 90s. Dr. Schott (always Dr. Schott) had one cure for almost everything that sounded like a complaint: get outside and blow the stink off. That was the operating principle in the house. We were just kids. We went outside and came back later....
18 days ago • 2 min read
Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships Did you have sponge brain at camp? It's a good thing! If so, the quickest and easiest way ever to help K&E is to take 30 seconds and write a Google Review 5 stars is great. A quick comment is incredible. A photo of you at camp is like winning rope burn. You make coffee this morning? I know I did. Gearing up for camp means making a lot of pots. Same way as yesterday and the day before. While it brewed, my head was somewhere...
25 days ago • 3 min read
Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships Did you have sponge brain at camp? It's a good thing! If so, the quickest and easiest way ever to help K&E is to take 30 seconds and write a Google Review 5 stars is great. A quick comment is incredible. A photo of you at camp is like winning rope burn. GET ENGAGED. That was my dad's line. Dr. Schott (always Dr. Schott) ran weekend house projects the way some people run operations. Work to do on the house? My brothers and I...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships "Is this the summer I'm going to sleepaway?” Last week, we had a call for families who are coming to camp this summer. There was this pretty awesome, nervous-but-excited energy. I’m talking about the parents, not the kids. Yeah, parents, maybe even more than the kids, get those vibes going. So we have these calls where we get together, answer questions, put some faces to names, say hello before June gets here. That quote from...
about 1 month ago • 2 min read
Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships Help us make Summer Matters right for you. Are you: KE Alum Current KE Parent Current KE + Alum Still deciding about camp Here for the camp vibes Saturday morning cartoons started at 7 sharp. You set the alarm. You poured cereal. So much of the week pointed right there. McDonald’s (yes, the Golden Arches) used to have some personality. Brick one in Buffalo, brown mansard roof (those cool 4 sided ones) in Cleveland with the...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships Help us make Summer Matters right for you. Are you: KE Alum Current KE Parent Current KE + Alum Still deciding about camp Here for the camp vibes Growing up, my dad (Dr. Schott, always Dr. Schott) had one cure for everything. Didn’t matter what was wrong. Bored, restless, cranky, too much energy, not enough energy. whatever. The prescription was always the same. “Get outside and blow the stink off.” That was after school on...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships A few weeks ago, I sat with a group of Juniper 2006 alumni. Their oldest kids are getting close to camp age. And they had questions. Not about schedules or pricing or activities. They wanted to know if the traditions would still be there. Peanut Pals. Shield of Honor. Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Opening Campfire. Mess Ugly. Spirit Night. If some of these are new to you, they won’t be for long. If you’ve been here before,...
2 months ago • 2 min read
Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships Most parents think about camp as a summer thing. Two months. Running around outside. Some new friends. Maybe a skill or two. Come home a little (or a lot) more confident. All of that is totally real. But there is this other thing going on at camp that doesn’t get talked about enough. Campers join a real network. Not in some abstract, LinkedIn-buzzword way. A real one. The kind that actually functions. The kind where people...
2 months ago • 3 min read