Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders I’ll just say two things straight out: All of my best friends in the world are camp people. And most of the important things I know, I learned at camp. On the friendship front, it’s a common refrain from people who’ve spent weeks, months, years, and summers at places like Kenwood & Evergreen. How could it not? Camps across the country have people who’ve left them and taken those friendships out into the world. So...
7 days ago • 3 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders K&E Families, You know that feeling when you walk into camp and immediately sense something special? That’s not just random luck or some coincidence. That’s the result of people who’ve poured decades into creating something bigger than themselves. For many decades now, Jacki and Bob have been part of the heart and soul of Kenwood & Evergreen. They’ve shaped not just summers, but entire generations of campers, so...
8 days ago • 3 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders Let me get this out of the way. I like my phone. I love being able to text other camp directors, see what's happening in the world, make quick connections with folks, answer your questions instantly, all of it. Phones make running camp waaaay easier in a million different ways. But this summer, like a lot of other summers, I spent loads of time thinking about phones and camp at the same time. Screentime “battles”...
14 days ago • 3 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders I came across an article in Outside Magazine a few weeks ago that had me chuckling. “Can a Campfire Improve Your Mental Health? Many Therapists Say Yes.” To summarize the piece, therapists and nonprofits are using campfires to help a variety of folks (teens included) open up about their struggles. And the science backs it up. A 2014 study found that sitting around a fire decreases blood pressure, fosters...
19 days ago • 3 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders Did you know there’s real strategy to Rope Burning? Yeah, maybe K&E lifers already know this, but this summer I saw it in action for the first time. In real time. Jordan Cohen, coaching on the Grey team, had this down, and it was incredible to watch. Teepee height versus width. Flame placement. Match economy. Teaching iteration under pressure while a hundred kids chant “Watermelon cantelope come on baby burn that...
28 days ago • 2 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders I'm writing this as summer draws to a close. This is always the most bittersweet time of year. The buses have rolled away. The bunks stand empty. Another transformative summer has ended, this one on the edge of exciting change. Evolution is essential. But sitting here in the quiet, I found myself thinking back to something I shared with camp families 25 years ago. A simple question that shaped so much of what...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders Running a camp means thinking about a lot of numbers. Food budgets, staff ratios, activity schedules, equipment costs. Camp is kind of like any “normal” business in that way. And look, I was an engineering major (minor in The Hidden Curriculum), so I’m naturally down to track things. But this summer, stepping into this K&E community and thinking about Scott’s awesome announcement, I keep coming back to the...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders When Arthur and Judy entrusted me with K&E’s future in 1995, they didn’t just hand over keys to camp. They passed along a sacred responsibility. Entrusting someone else with a place that had shaped thousands of lives, including my own. It has been my greatest honor to carry that trust forward. I was thinking about this over the weekend at Visiting Day when making another big announcement for K&E. For nearly a...
about 2 months ago • 4 min read
Kids these days... Weekly insights for inspiring flexible and thoughtful leaders “Milk and cookieeeeeees!!!!!!!!!” That was the single phrase one of our campers yelled the other day during a tour with a prospective K&E family. No context. No explanation. Just pure excitement. An adult in this situation would have had a ton of questions, starting with “Um, what?” and followed by “Why are you screaming Milk and Cookies at me?!” But Chris (not his real name, you know how this goes), the kid on...
2 months ago • 3 min read