Summer Matters Inspiring confident kind kids & forever friendships First: Wishing you strength, reflection, and peace this Yom Kippur. In 2016, a Dinosaur-themed monster truck tank drove into K&E and literally ate cars. There’s video of it happening. Maybe you or your kid was there. Everyone screaming. Cars getting crushed. Megasaurus was Color War breakout that year, and it was absolutely insane. See for yourself. It’s way hard to put into words. And this hasn’t been the only big moment. We...
10 days ago • 3 min read
Summer Matters Inspiring confident kind kids & forever friendships It’s easy to think of camp as a big and loud place. It’s easy because it’s true. Camp is a big and loud place! Days are packed with sounds and energy spilling over. Which is definitely the point. So when I ask kids about their most meaningful and memorable camp experiences, part of me is always waiting for those big, loud stories. That was the case last week in Dallas. I was there for ForumWithin work and got to meet up with...
17 days ago • 3 min read
Summer Matters Inspiring confident kind kids & forever friendships We had a camper here this summer who’s an elite U13 quarterback. Has a cannon. High schools recruiting him. Getting all the accolades, all the attention that comes with being really good at one thing. In the world, he’s a football player. Plain and simple. But at camp, he did a lot of different things. Played ping pong. Shot hoops. Spent time at A&C, laughing constantly. Still got to compete for sure, played U15 flag football...
24 days ago • 3 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders I’ll just say two things straight out: All of my best friends in the world are camp people. And most of the important things I know, I learned at camp. On the friendship front, it’s a common refrain from people who’ve spent weeks, months, years, and summers at places like Kenwood & Evergreen. How could it not? Camps across the country have people who’ve left them and taken those friendships out into the world. So...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders K&E Families, You know that feeling when you walk into camp and immediately sense something special? That’s not just random luck or some coincidence. That’s the result of people who’ve poured decades into creating something bigger than themselves. For many decades now, Jacki and Bob have been part of the heart and soul of Kenwood & Evergreen. They’ve shaped not just summers, but entire generations of campers, so...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders Let me get this out of the way. I like my phone. I love being able to text other camp directors, see what's happening in the world, make quick connections with folks, answer your questions instantly, all of it. Phones make running camp waaaay easier in a million different ways. But this summer, like a lot of other summers, I spent loads of time thinking about phones and camp at the same time. Screentime “battles”...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders I came across an article in Outside Magazine a few weeks ago that had me chuckling. “Can a Campfire Improve Your Mental Health? Many Therapists Say Yes.” To summarize the piece, therapists and nonprofits are using campfires to help a variety of folks (teens included) open up about their struggles. And the science backs it up. A 2014 study found that sitting around a fire decreases blood pressure, fosters...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders Did you know there’s real strategy to Rope Burning? Yeah, maybe K&E lifers already know this, but this summer I saw it in action for the first time. In real time. Jordan Cohen, coaching on the Grey team, had this down, and it was incredible to watch. Teepee height versus width. Flame placement. Match economy. Teaching iteration under pressure while a hundred kids chant “Watermelon cantelope come on baby burn that...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders I'm writing this as summer draws to a close. This is always the most bittersweet time of year. The buses have rolled away. The bunks stand empty. Another transformative summer has ended, this one on the edge of exciting change. Evolution is essential. But sitting here in the quiet, I found myself thinking back to something I shared with camp families 25 years ago. A simple question that shaped so much of what...
2 months ago • 3 min read