Greetings from Hilltop. I hope you’ll forgive the late post. Sometimes the day gets away from a camp director. I hope you’ll forgive the late post. Sometimes the day gets away from a camp director.
It was a beautiful day on Orcas Island (you’d think I’d get tired of writing that, but I never do), and a gorgeous day for our second Sunday of Second Session.
Today capped off Cardinal Week. We introduced Cardinal Week last year. It’s a way to integrate the values of camp more explicitly into the campers’ experience. We divide the camp into four teams, one for each of the cardinal directions. Older campers partner with younger campers to mentor them and bring them into what it means to be a Four Winds * Westward Ho camper. Each day of Cardinal Week, we celebrate a tenet of what it means to be a camper here: leadership, service, kindness, craftsmanship, sportsmanship, inclusion. Finally, today, for our Sunday afternoon activity, each group of older and younger campers (called “Polaris Pals”) built a boat out of driftwood and natural materials. After Evening Fire, we launched the boats in Four Winds Bay as the campers sang goodnight songs in the amphitheater. It was just lovely.
At the end of every Evening Fire, I share a few words with the campers in an attempt to contextualize what’s happening here and to explain that what’s happening here is not just about fun, but something bigger. It often doesn’t make sense to share those words with you because I write the blog post in the afternoon, and the Evening Fire happens in the evening, of course. Perhaps my lateness in writing the post tonight is an opportunity to let you in on a little bit of what that looks like.
At the end of Evening Fire tonight, I tried to add a little context to the experience of Cardinal Week. In doing so, I asked the campers what the difference is between camp and an all-inclusive resort for kids. (The kids don’t answer in this context. It’s all rhetorical.) But, I told them that, just like an all-inclusive resort, at camp someone pays a fee. The lodgings are included, the food is included, and activities are included, so what’s the difference?
We all know that the comparison is absurd, but what is the difference? I admitted that we are certainly more rustic than your average all-inclusive resort, but I argued that the bigger difference is values. It’s what we’re celebrating during Cardinal Week, and it’s what separates camp from a purely recreational experience. What we’re doing here is part of a larger and more noble project. It’s about growing, becoming better people, better friends, better citizens, better mentors. The fact that it is so fun and that kids really love being here just makes it all the better.
Tomorrow will be another camp day. It won’t be Sunday, and it won’t be Cardinal Week anymore, so the discussion of values might be a touch less explicit. Just like any normal day at camp, kids will sail, ride horses, make art, play sports, and create in our garden. The eighth-grade campers will leave on their two-night trips. We’ll raise the flags and sing songs. Jewelry ceremonies will happen, and Garbage Auction prizes will be given out. Our evening activity will be Craftapalooza, a celebration of all things in the craft courts, and we’ll sing songs at night to go to bed.
Despite the camp values not being quite as explicit as they might be on a Sunday or during Cardinal Week, they’ll be there, making this into an experience that is so much more than fun. Thank you, as always, for sharing your children with us this month. It’s been a fantastic session so far, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store.