The Benefits of Summer Camp

Posted by admin

November 11, 2009

camp1 There are plenty of summer camps out there. There are band camps, sports camps, art camps, space camps, leadership camps… it boggles the mind. How is a person to choose one? Well, a good camp teaches us things – not only soapstone carving or volleyball or orienteering, but lessons we can really take home and use.

Camp NeeKauNis, which I’ve attended my whole life, is one of these. To this day, it is my favourite place in the world, and has taught me many of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned. Camp helped raise me, teach me, shape me. I would be an entirely different person without it – and, I think, a much lesser one. Every time I get back to Camp, I feel my better self renewed. This is why I find a way to get there, every summer.

It’s hard to put your finger on what is so amazing about this place. It’s a small piece of land in Waubaushene, Ontario, with a trail leading to the beach on Sturgeon Bay. It’s populated by simple cabins and community buildings constructed by the loving volunteers who are its lifeblood. And hey, it’s rustic: many of the cabins are a roof over a collection of beds accompanied by lights and running water. But it’s got a view of the sunset that will knock your socks off.

One of the special things about NeeKauNis is that you’re never too old or too young to go. My first program was a Family Camp when I was two months old; my grandmother also attends Camp, and she’s eighty-seven. There are programs for older kids, pre-teens, adolescents, adults, and seniors. If you want a weekend of spiritual contemplation or discussion, you can find it here. If you want to spend some time in the service of the community, you can volunteer as staff or attend Work Camp.

I don’t remember my first few Family Camps as a baby, but it’s clear from the photos that I enjoyed myself. With a group of families woven together, all of us kids were guided and protected by not just our parents, but a whole parenting collective. As I got older and more independent, I was intimately familiar with all the important parts of Camp: the climbing set, the swings, the path to the beach, the art room, the outhouses, the sports field. My dad was the king of swingset rides, purveyor of the famous Tornado. I played hard, explored, made friends, learned to work as part of a team.

There were many firsts for me at Camp, especially since I was a Homeschooling kid. It was the first place I stayed without my parents for more than one night, for Junior Camp. There, I also went to my first dance – and got my first crush. Camp is where I learned to play badminton, soccer, Ultimate, euchre, Speed, and Wink. I tested my burgeoning acting, dancing, and comedic skills at many a Talent Night. At Intermediate Camp, I had my first official boyfriend (we lasted 3.5 days) and subsequently my first kiss. Camp is the first place I ever slept under the stars, swam by sunset, cried for happiness, fell in love. The things we do at Camp are simple, universal things, but somehow extraordinary when surrounded by the layers of beauty.

Beyond rites of passage, life lessons are eloquently learned at Camp. As child care staff, I passed along to my charges all the piggyback and spinny rides I’d been given by my many Camp parents. As kitchen staff, I learned that doing work well is much easier and more satisfying than trying to avoid work. I learned to listen, give support, give hugs. I learned what it is to bond with your friends – bond so that you know that right then, your friendship is the best and most important thing in the world. I learned that when the planets align just right, those bonds can encompass a whole group. That even deep pain, suffered together, holds joy as well. That given the right atmosphere, we can all access within ourselves infinite wells of kindness, generosity, empathy, and love.

Camping