Let’s talk about bullying. Lauren and I, along with our long-time leadership team, think about this topic a lot. We approach it in a larger context of our mission: guiding kids and teens to grow into good humans who will affect positive change in the world. Every summer we seek to build an inclusive camp community where all campers and staff feel they can be their most authentic selves. Along the way, our leadership team is focused on teaching campers how to interact in healthy ways with their peers; of course, part of this focus is identifying and directly addressing bullying behavior. As educators, how can we best help our campers learn and grow from their mistakes? How can we instill in them the essential life skills of empathy, resilience, and forgiveness? How can we make sure every camper feels known, needed, and cared for as a valued member of our Blue Star family?

Jason Silberman, President of the Camp Owners/Directors Association (one of several professional organizations in which we are members), reflected on this past summer with this front of mind. Silberman writes, “there’s a prevailing culture that encourages removing children from situations that cause discomfort, rather than allowing them to work through their feelings. However, children thrive in environments that promote connection and resilience.” As parents, we too struggle with our own feelings around how best to parent our children. We are right here with you! When we are granted the awesome opportunity and privilege to look after YOUR child at camp, we feel for them and think about them as our own. Our educational philosophy is that real learning takes place in the context of relationships. Our work centers around leading campers towards a deeper understanding of themselves and learning how to interact inclusively in all of their social interactions.

Part of this work is acknowledging that kids and teens make mistakes, explore boundaries, and are trying to figure out who they are and how they fit in with others. It is messy; it can feel uncomfortable. When a camper says something really mean to another camper or blatantly excludes them from joining in with a group, we engage the work. Sometimes mean or exclusionary behavior can become part of a repetitive pattern. At Blue Star we define bullying as repeated unwanted aggressive behavior that involves a power imbalance (https://www.stopbullying.gov).

We also understand that testing the accepted social boundaries to establish one’s role in a group is developmentally appropriate behavior.  That said, while these behaviors are age appropriate, some of them are not acceptable in our intentional community.  Rather, the good work of camp is to scaffold and support all children in working with these challenges and learning from the experience to help them discover their best selves. Always we are working to root out exclusionary behavior and catalyze inclusive acts. We use the word, inclusion (and not tolerance), as inclusion requires the camper to go beyond tolerance, or simply putting up with someone.  The following are just a handful of examples of HOW we strive to accomplish this…

• Our intensive staff leadership training focuses on how our counselors can best create an inclusive cabin community, in addition to how best to handle when a camper is not acting in that way. Our unit and camp leaders are in the camper cabins every day and checking in with the counselors regularly to gather information on the internal cabin dynamics. Our leadership team then makes the decisions as to how to work with certain campers individually and the cabin as a whole.
• Weekly check-ins (one-on-one conversations) occur as a priority between our unit leaders and each of their campers. *Parents, as partners, can coach their children to share with their camp leadership how they actually are doing and feeling, especially within their cabin. Our unit leaders share their weekly check-in written reports with their camp leader and director. From there, our leadership team again is making the decisions as to how to work with certain campers individually, including when the directors will engage parents.
• Circle Ups & Key Logs are modeled and led by our unit and camp leaders. Lauren & I facilitate our leadership team Circle Ups as part of an ongoing training process. From there, our counselors are empowered to lead regular Circle Ups with their cabins. Circle Ups are opportunities for campers to share openly what is going well for them at camp and what is not going well (ie “Rose & Thorn”). Alumni will be much more familiar with Key Log ceremonies that happen on the last night of every session. All campers and staff from each unit share gratitude with each other, sitting around the camp fire and reflecting on their camp relationships. It is important for the adults at camp to model and scaffold for our campers that it is healthy to share their feelings.
• Camper Commitment policies are a newer addition to our social-emotional learning arsenal. This summer, all of our campers and their parents will receive our Camper Commitment policy to discuss at home before camp starts. At camp, our leadership team and counselors will review the Camper Commitments as part of our regular process of setting cabin guidelines with our campers at the beginning of each session. This way, all of our campers start the summer on the same page as to what behavior is acceptable and, clearly, what is not. To get campers to buy in, it is key that campers feel part of the process.

As always, Lauren & I invite all of our camp families to partner with us and support our mission in creating an inclusive community at camp where all campers feel known, needed, cared for and safe.

Shabbat Original Thoughts Shared By Fish and Dana on the 2nd Shabbat of 1st Session 2024

Shabbat Shalom! I cannot believe we have already reached the midpoint of this first session. This is my favorite week – it is the week we get to fully live in our camp experiences. I know Seth’s “thing” is that he often reads you a book – not quite my style. But I do love books – so I’m going to tell you about one. This past spring, my son Reid (Juniors) and I read and listened to The Wild Robot series. In the first book, Roz – the wild robot – packed in her crate and shipped with other robots, crashes into a desert island. A family of playful otters accidentally switch Roz on, and from there, the story unfolds. Oddly enough, this book about a robot crash-landing on an island and befriending wild animals teaches us what is it means to be human. What matters is the way we connect with each other and the world. 

1. To be human is to be kind. One of the feature’s of Roz’s programming is that she can’t use physical violence. At moments, this makes it hard for her as act aggressively toward her. She learns to use her kindness, her empathy and her intellect to navigate the world, rather than her physical strength. Even, in the third book, when a new update allows her to be physically violent, she resists the “easy out” of being aggressive and leans into choosing kindness. At camp, it is so easy to respond with anger – to get mad and lose control of our emotions. Remember, as you face challenges, you have the power to be kind. It doesn’t happen by accident. You (and the people you surround yourself with) control your programming. Be kind and surround yourself with others who are kind. 

2. To be human is to build an intentional community. In the book, Roz adopts an orphaned gosling and raises him as her own child. Together, as a family, they connect with the beavers and otters; predators and prey have moments of truce so they can work together towards common goals (saving Roz from the robots trying to get her back to the factory, for one). Here at camp, we get the chance to build our own intentional “families.” We have our cabins, our units, our camps, the friends we go to options with, and many more little communities within our big camp. I have always found deep and meaningful connections with this community – my chosen family. 

3. To be human is to be a steward of the natural environment. In the third book, Roz and her island friends face an environmental disaster, and it is up to her to save her son Brightbill and her grand-goslings. Spoiler alert – Roz does save the day. While we may not, single handedly, be able to solve an environmental crisis, we each play a small part in preserving the world around us. One of the biggest improvements we made here at camp this past off-season was that we installed solar panels on the roof of the HeRo – this means we can power many of the Pioneer Boy cabins, the HeRo, and the electric pool heater with sustainable energy. You too can make a big difference – you can turn off the lights when you leave the cabin, you can turn of the water when you brush your teeth, you can take shorter showers (as long as you get clean!), you can compost (boom), you can “leave no trace” and pick up after yourself, leaving the natural world natural and beautiful. You can practice these things at camp, bring them home and make a difference in your world when you get back home. 

So, on this middle shabbat of second session – I encourage you to be like Roz – be kind to each other, build an intentional community, and be kind to our planet.

What’s NEW in 2024?!

Let’s make some MAGIC on the Mountain at Blue Star this summer 2024! Along with our leadership team, Lauren & I have been busy at work all year cooking up a magical summer. Plowing ahead with our summer planning has eased our own campsickness. Now that it’s springtime, we wanted to share a sneak preview of What’s NEW in 2024…

Most importantly, Lauren & I are so excited to announce our latest project as part of our GREEN eco-mission. Installed on top of our HeRo amphitheater are over 100 solar panels. These solar panels will allow us to power the central part of camp, including our heated pool, Rec Hall, and more key spaces. During the summer, our Green Team, led by Teen Village campers, will be sharing updates with our camp community about how much solar energy we are using and the positive impact on the environment. This will be a tangible way for our camp community to practice being kind to the planet!

Now for the updates you all have been waiting for…drum roll please! To keep innovating with our programming, we are adding a brand new mountain biking trail that will be for all riding levels (most campers, of all ages, who choose mountain biking this summer will be able to experience this brand new trail with sweet twists & turns and a new bridge component). This is just the opening phase of our larger plan to rebuild our entire mountain biking trail network. On top of that, we will be introducing a new official Blue Star option in Flag Football. Not only is flag football now the pinnacle of the NFL’s Pro Bowl weekend and a future Summer Olympics sport, but it also is about to kick off at Blue Star on our three full size athletic fields. And for our campers to enjoy when they experience their overnight camping trip, we have built a brand new camp site (now we have three brand new camp sites on property with more still to come). After building a campfire, cooking a delicious dinner with special sauce, and sharing stories while eating s’mores, more campers will get to sleep even more comfortably in another new camp site. And did we mention even more additions to our Waterfront Inflatable Park?! Boom.

For our 77^th season, Lauren & I want to explore what really creates that Blue Star Magic. We envision this exploration as a collective and communal effort. Along with our alumni, staff, parents and campers, let’s rediscover what the Blue Star Magic is all about. Together, we make the Magic on the Mountain!

We believe that inside of each of us, there radiates a spark. There is magic inside us all, waiting to be harnessed. So much of our good work every summer is creating a supportive environment for our campers to discover their best selves. Lauren’s grandfather and co-founder of Blue Star, Herman Popkin, used to talk about how every child has something unique within them to share with the world. The camp experience is focused on helping campers find that unique spark so that they can share it with the world. When our campers and staff share their magic with each other, the positive power of that collective magic is exponential. That positive power reminds us to interact with others from our most real and authentic selves, creating more and more kind interactions. Then we can channel that magic towards doing good and helping heal the planet.

This summer’s theme is meant to be even more interactive than in years’ past. As a whole Blue Star family, we will co-create its meaning together…on the mountain. What is YOUR definition of the Blue Star Magic?! We would love to hear from our fellow “BlueStar-iens.” Let’s make some super sweet Magic on the Mountain this summer 2024!

Since October 7th, as I have been processing so many overwhelming emotions and meditating on what it means to be Jewish, my yearning to be back in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains has intensified. Like so many of our campers and staff, I live “10-for-2.” Viscerally, I feel the longing to be at camp when I am not physically there. Even though I get to live my dream and be “doing camp” 365 days a year; in so many ways, being at camp is the only real thing.  Why do so many of us miss camp so acutely when it’s not summer time? And why is Jewish sleepaway camp more important now than ever?

Dr. Sandra Fox, author of The Jews of Summer: Summer Camp and Jewish Culture in Postwar America, contends that “camp-sickness” is very real and just as powerful as “home-sickness.” She posits that the unique nature of summer camp only can be experienced during the summer while at camp. That is, no matter what we do to recreate that “camp vibe” in our homes, schools, synagogues, and communities; it’s not the same thing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/20/opinion/camp-summer-campsickness.html

At the heart of Dr. Fox’s resonant thesis is the intentional choice architecture layered throughout the summer camp experience. Our leadership team, evolving the traditions passed down to our generation starting way back in 1948, creates a structure each summer where our campers essentially get to choose their own adventure. Of course, many of today’s campers are somewhat used to that in virtual worlds (from Tik Tok to gaming); but, it’s actually their real world at camp. Campers choose daily who they are going to talk to, which Blue Star option they are going to try, what original thoughts they might share at Shabbat, and how they are going to live their best life.

Dr. Fox asserts that sleepaway camp is “an opportunity for self-reinvention and an invitation to be messier, weirder and just more myself.” It is no surprise to those of us who are camp professionals that the same camper who is visibly homesick the first week of camp more often than not is the same camper who is crying to leave camp on closing day. Embracing “10-for-2,” as opposed to fighting that feeling, allows for those two months at camp (or one week through seven weeks, depending on the session) to work their magic. After all, Fox continues, “camp is supposed to feel different from — and, frankly, better than — home. That’s what gives camp its life-changing power.”

Lauren’s grandfather and great uncles (Herman, Harry, & Ben) founded Blue Star in 1948 to create a safe haven for Jewish children throughout the South to have a place to be in the summer where they could feel physically and emotionally safe expressing their Jewishness. That founding mission burns brightly today as we embark on our 77th season of Blue Star magic, welcoming campers from across the country and world. This summer campers can feel safe and supported as they proudly wear their Stars of David on their necklaces, talk openly with their best friends and counselors about their personal experiences this school year, and remember what it’s like to belt out their favorite Shabbat songs Friday night while swaying together with their arms around one another. This is a generational moment for us to create space for our kids to fully be Jewish; Jewish sleepaway camp at Blue Star is one such space.

May our light shine extra brightly this Hanukkah! L’Chaim to a safe, hopeful, and peaceful New Year as we already look ahead to next summer 2024!

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Blog Series 2023 – By BSC alumnus and current associate director, Matt “Fish” Eisenman

Last summer, in addition to celebrating Blue Star’s 75th anniversary, I also celebrated some personal camp milestones. It was my 20th summer on staff and my 30th summer at Blue Star. I always loved camp; I never imagined that it would become so foundational to my adult life, lifelong relationships, and my children’s upbringing – but here we are. Often when I reconnect with friends from my camper and early staff days, they ask some version of this question: “Is camp still the same?” 

And I think about this a lot – is camp the same? In many ways, and in the most important ways, it is exactly the same. I remember staying at a hotel in town the night before camp (it was the one in Hendersonville that had a mini-golf course and a waterslide inside). Who would be in my cabin and what would they be like? Would I fit in? Would my counselors be as cool as I hoped they would be? While we now “pre-assign” bunks and the race to the front gate to pick your bed in the cabin no longer exists, life in the cabin is pretty much the same. We played many of the same games (rafterball dominated my life as a pioneer boy, and it is still the cabin game). The rhythms of camp life are pretty much the same – cabin clean up, swim, athletics, options, and evening programs. We ask campers to write old-fashioned letters on Shabbat (and most do). Color War and Zimriah are still the camp wide programs campers look forward to on Sundays.

The other core aspect that is the same is that the value of camp – the Blue Star Magic – is not in the daily activities and special programs, but in the relationships built over the course of a session, a season, or  multiple summers. The magic is in the conversations shared between bunks, on the athletics fields, walking to the dining hall, and in all of those “little” moments throughout the summer. The magic is in the connection to a counselor that helps a camper through their “homesick” transition to camp or that first break up (following that first “real” boyfriend or girlfriend). Camp time still feels like both forever and no time all at once. And at camp the real things do take time. Relationships – the lifelong ones we often talk about when reflecting on camp – take time to build. It is only after that summer at camp, and often over many summers, that we leave camp with the friends and mentors who become the hallmark of the reflections of generations of Blue Star campers and staff.

While camp really hasn’t changed, the pace of the world “beyond the red gate” has continued to accelerate. As I was putting my oldest son, Reid, to bed a few weeks ago and we were reading one of my old Where’s Waldo? books, an envelope from a camp friend, postmarked 22 AUG 1996, fell from Waldo’s pages. Unfortunately, the letter itself was gone, but the return address and postmark brought me right back to the weeks after my summer in Senior 1. Could our current campers imagine writing a letter to a friend, waiting for them to get it, and hoping they write back? Outside of camp the speed of that response has become almost instantaneous. Our campers (and us as parents too) have become accustomed to that instant feedback. Our children’s schools post photographs, send regular classroom updates, and put grades online immediately. We email teachers and expect a quick resolution. Our kids will never know the pains of having to make sure no one is on the phone and then the “musical” sounds as the dial up internet connects. Today, these delays and so many others are foreign to our lived experience.

As I reflect on what has changed about camp, it isn’t that camp has changed all that much (though the addition of the brand new equestrian barn, the new waterski cable park on the Old Lake, a new rock climbing tower, and all of the capital improvements over the past decade certainly stand out), it is that the pace of everything outside of camp has approached near instant gratification. And not just for our kids – for us as parents and professionals as well.

This summer, let’s lean into the magic of slow time. A camper feeling homesick in their transition needs time to adjust. A camper working through the age-old middle school challenges of shifting friend groups needs the time and space to work through those challenges. A friendship, formed out of common interest and shared experience, needs the space to be nurtured. We can’t slow down the pace of change and the immediacy of feedback in the real world, but for a few weeks this summer, we can let that Blue Star Magic slow things back down into real time.

This past summer during the Friday night services at our 75th reunion weekend I had the privilege of speaking to our camp community in the Elmore Solomon Chapel. It was our first Shabbat service of our 75th season. Seth and I wanted to share this speech with you all. We are incredibly grateful for a wonderful and extra sweet 75th summer. Thank you to all our Blue Star campers and families, as well as our incredible staff, for making our 75th season of Summer Magic a true celebration of our camp’s values and spirit.

We are wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year! 

Chapel Thoughts from 5-27-22:

Thank you for being here to help us celebrate our 75^th season of summer magic. Herman & Rosalie (and all of the founding brothers and their families) and my Mom and Dad would be so proud. Georgia O’Keeffe said, “to create one’s own world takes courage.” Our founders not only had the courage to bring their vision of a summer camp for Jewish children to life, the world they created also became a home to over a hundred thousand camper and staff alumni over the past seven and a half decades. How wonderful, that our little planet Blue Star, our home away from home, will continue to welcome children and staff this summer and in future summers, in our 75^th season and beyond!

In thinking about what I wanted to relay to you here tonight in our beautiful Elmore Solomon Chapel, I found my mind (and heart) wandering back in time to my childhood at camp, to my camper and staff years. I imagine those memories are the same ones that brought you here this weekend: what we recall from being part of this magical place when we were young.

We were given:

The freedom to figure out our “stuff” on our own.

A little privacy, some “breathing room” from our lives at home and our parents.

Space for self-discovery and the empowerment that comes along with that.

Opportunities to find out what we were good at, what we were passionate about, who “our people” were (and in so many cases, still are).

Our hearts were open, we had fun, we were mischievous. We laughed for hours at night in our bunks after lights out. Our friendships were genuine. We felt deeply connected to each other and to the place; we were part of something bigger than ourselves (our cabins, units and camp community). We were accepted. We belonged. We got to be Jewish together while also finding our own individual connections to our faith. And on top of all of that…we got to experience the magic of the natural world on this gorgeous piece of land:

The scent of the trees and the fresh air.

The wondrous night skies.

The sound of the rain on the cabin roof.

The views from the top of Mt. Pinnacle.

The cool evenings and mornings, the sunrises and twilights, the sounds of the bull frogs and the birds. How fortunate we were to get to experience life at the foot of this magical mountain when we were young…what a gift to us children, now grown, that we can share with our children as they grow up!

Blue Star gave us something to believe in because it has always been “a camp with a purpose.” Herman & Rosalie and Rodger & Candy all understood that camp was a microcosm for what we could achieve in the world outside of our front gate. They believed that through the experiences campers and staff had at Blue Star, we could build a society that was peaceful, fair, equitable, humane, and loving. Now more than ever, we need institutions, people, and places that we can put our faith in.  As we continue to bear witness to the unspeakable tragedies occurring in our country and across the globe as well as the climate crisis, at Blue Star this summer, we recommit to being “kind to each other and kind to the planet.”

We have hope that we can resonate at a higher level to rebuild our communities, cities and country in ways that better reflect our true values. In our 75^th season, we again get to create our own little universe at camp. Being part of it gives us a sense of possibility, gives us something to continue to put our faith in.  So tonight in our Chapel, we ask for a blessing for our world….may we come through these darker times and find our collective “true north.”

May our campers always know the joy of being young at Blue Star. May they love it as much as we have. May the quality of that experience be gifted for generations to come. May the place have the power to continue to shape and change the world for the better.

We are so grateful for your presence here this weekend, for your love for camp and each other and for the enduring connection we share. Happy 75^th to Blue Star and to all of us here to celebrate it!

Here’s to many more magical summers together @ Blue Star! – Lauren Popkin Herschthal