Carpe diem. Hope everyone is having a beautiful fall season. Lauren and I are inspired to begin an off season blog series. Over the next several months we will be sharing some of our thoughts about our larger vision for camp. In addition, we will offer humbly different take-aways from the latest research in the field of education in an attempt to spark further inquiry on your part. After all, the important work we do as camp directors ultimately leads to the best outcomes for children when we are in partnership with you—their parents. We invite your comments, feedback, and insights as we want this to be a dialogue.
So I will begin with our big vision. From there I will connect to the first of the three core outcomes we want your children to experience as Blue Star campers. Lauren and I envision a sustainable space at Blue Star that is a living and breathing microcosm of what we think the larger world can become. Lauren’s father and director emeritus, Rodger Popkin, often reminds us of a quote from Gandhi. “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.” Of course, the bumper sticker version goes something like…”Be the change you wish to see in the world.” The point remains the same. We believe Blue Star is a place where children discover their best selves, make connections in an intentional community, and learn to practice Tikkun Olam.
Self-discovery. This is where our camp journey begins. It is the foundation for everything else that happens through the Blue Star experience. Lauren’s grandfather and co-founder of Blue Star, Herman Popkin, used to say that every child possesses a unique gift. The work of camp then is to encourage each camper to discover what her passion is and to go for it. We create a safe haven amidst the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains where every camper is able to gain confidence and independence in discovering his best self. I leave you for now with the link to a TED talk by the spoken word artist, Sarah Kay. In it she describes her own exploration of self-discovery, and I find it inspiring.
Blue Star allows that journey of self discovery, that pursuit of the unique gift to be developed in a safe and nurturing environment. Always rememeber a Pioneer Boy who signed up for mountain biking. he couldn’t make it up to the New Lake that first time. The Mountain bike staff specialist stopped with him, encouraged him and helped him “make it”. He was welcomed back to the option next morning. Fast forward 10 years later and that Pioneer Boy is competing in Triathalons. Blue Star allows kids to “fall off the horse” and nurtures them to succeed when they get back on. I should know that Pioneer Boy was my son.
Residential camping programs, esp Blue Star, offer a unique opportunity for young people to create, live and then reflect on what is possible in their lives (Avi provides a great example below). At camp, at school, in one’s family and more broadly in life. I am sure that every camper leaves camp wishing that camp could last forever, but that the rest of life could be just like camp. Here here. Maybe, we camping professionals, need to step up to the plate, and seriously understand our role in educating our campers to learn how to do this, to embrace the essential qualities of camp into their lives, beyond Blue Star,. beyond every sumemer camping experience? This would surely spread the Blue Star magic….