Building Friendships, Community and a Sense of Belonging
Our Camp has evolved over the years, and honestly, I believe that's a good thing. As we gear up to celebrate 100 years of Camp Lake Hubert for Girls, I reminence about how much has changed since Camp Lake Hubert opened in 1927.
Activities change, equipment gets better, programs grow, and we continue to learn more about how to support campers and staff. The kids coming to camp today are growing up in a very different world than campers did even 10 or 20 years ago. But there are some things about Camp that really haven't changed—and I hope they never do. The friendships, community, laughter and the feeling of belonging is a major part of the camp experience. When I think about what makes our Camps so special, it is those things that keep coming back.
Camp friendships are Unique.
At Camp, you spend a lot of time together. You eat together, live together, go to activities together, laugh together, and sometimes get annoyed with each other. You see each other when you're having a great day and when you're not.
And that's actually part of what makes those friendships so important.
Campers Must figure Things Out Together.
They have to learn how to share a space, how to compromise, how to include someone new, and how to work through a disagreement instead of simply walking away from it. Sometimes they have to sit next to someone they don't know at lunch or try an activity without their best friend.
Not every part of building a friendship or being part of a community is easy. We shouldn't expect it to be. Camp offers kids to move through those umcomforable situations in a safe and private space. As they learn more how to move throught it, they learn it's really not so bad. In fact, they may have sat at lunch with their new best friend.
Noticing Good Stuff Happening.
This is what I witness at every camp session. Someone notices that another camper is having a hard day. A camper invites someone new to sit with her. A cabin that didn't know each other two weeks ago suddenly has inside jokes that no one else understands. Someone finally tries an activity because her friends have been encouraging her all week.
And, of course, there is a lot of laughing. Usually about something that makes absolutely no sense to anyone outside of Camp. One of my favorite things is watching this continue from summer to summer.
A first-year camper may arrive not knowing anyone and wondering how she is possibly going to make friends. Someone makes room for her, teaches her how things work, and helps make camp feel a little less new. Then she comes back the next summer and suddenly she's the one who knows how things work. She knows the songs and traditions. She knows where to go. She sees familiar faces. She reconnects with old friends and makes new ones. Eventually, she's the camper making room for someone else. I think that's one of the really special things about growing up at camp.
And friendships at Camp change, too. Your closest friend one summer may be in a different cabin or session the next. New campers arrive. Groups change. Kids change.
Change is Part of the Camp Experience. And That's Okay.
Part of camp is learning that you can keep an old friendship while making a new one. You can be part of more than one group. You can work through something that didn't go perfectly. You can find your place without everyone around you being exactly like you. Those are pretty important skills outside of camp too.
There are plenty of things about camp that we should continue to change and improve. We should keep looking at our programs, facilities, training programs and how we support the kids who are growing up today.
Keeping An Eye on Things Going Well.
But I don't want us to lose sight of the things that don't need fixing. Kids need friends, people who know them and adults who believe in them.
They also need opportunities to figure things out without someone immediately fixing everything for them. They need to laugh, be silly, make mistakes, try again and occasionally have a disagreement with a friend and realize that the friendship can survive it.
Most of all, kids need to feel like they belong. The world our Campers are growing up in will continue to change, and camp will change along with it. But the friendships, community and connections that happen here? Those are the things I hope never change.
Interesed in learning more about our Camps? Registration is open for Summer 2027. Learn more here.
