Greetings from Hilltop. It’s a beautiful July day on Orcas. Today was a special day in the course of the session, the day the Seniors left on trips.
It’s even more special because we haven’t done it this way since 2019. Due to the many challenges of the pandemic, we did senior trips differently in 2021 and 2022. We got all the seniors out on trips, but in two batches. That allowed the seniors to have their big adventures, but doing it all at once is preferable both for senior camper preferences and the rhythm of the session.
The Seniors like this way better because they get more time together. It works better for the rhythm of the session because a little over two weeks in, it’s a perfect time to switch things up. The seniors have this big adventure. The core of the camp experience is that we take young people out of their normal environment and put them in this novel environment, attempt to foster intentional group dynamics, and challenge them. Parents often marvel at the growth, independence, and pride they see in their campers after a month at Four Winds, and wonder how it happened. I don’t want to give away any secrets, but that three-part formula is a huge part of it. It happens in camp but might be in its purest form on trips. For older kids, the challenge level has to be increased. For a younger camper coming to camp for the first time, just getting on the bus is often challenging enough. But for our older campers, we need to step things up, and a six-day adventure in the San Juan Islands or Olympic Peninsula is just the thing.
But, it’s not just the Seniors that benefit from Senior trips. The Juniors and Intermediates that are still here will get the experience of a smaller camp. Our rising 8th graders will get the chance for increased leadership as the oldest campers here. And, we’ll have special events that we save for only this week.
We’ve dealt with all sorts of changes in the last few years as a result of the pandemic, and had many moments of relief as things have returned to normal. Living through it here at camp, I think that this return to normal is perhaps a bit underrated. It’s wonderful to see.
This session is just flying by. When the Seniors return on Friday, we’ll almost immediately begin our final four evening activities (more on that next week), but for now, we have this week. It’ll be a great one, on trips or not.