I am standing in the assembly area looking down at the Hollow thinking “THIS IS SO AWESOME”
Some inters and juniors are shooting on the soccer goal with a freshman boy trying to keep up. Cooper and some boys are launching a frisbee across the field. Senior boys and girls are talking in the Adirondack chairs, definitely not flirting.
Some kids are in conversation, others running around. It’s 100% organized and freewheeling at the same time.
This is how summer should look for every kid.
There’s a lot to love about camp (which I’ll get to in a second), but these planned-but-unplanned ones tell you a lot about a place. Tell you a lot about the vibe. Tell you a lot about what summers can look like.
And there are other things too. Which is why, as we roll inot September, I wanted to do a 2.0 version of when I wrote about things I already loved about K&E a while back.
So here we go. 5 (more) things I love about K&E.
1. Mornings On The Dining Hall Steps
Every morning I wake up, walk to the dining hall, and sit on the steps with Ali as junior camp comes in for breakfast.
The freshman boys are always chomping at the bit. As soon as the call comes, they sprint way ahead of the counselors.
Kids run up in their PJs. Evergreen always has matching sets, and Kenwood is sometimes in the same gym shorts and T-shirt they were wearing the night before.
We say good morning to every kid as they walk in. It is so cool to be part of a community where everybody just knows each other like this which I can say confidently simply doesn’t happen at most other camps.
2. The Alumni Keep Coming Back
Alumni campers and staff keep coming back and wanting to be part of this community in a million different ways.
This summer we had Hut 6 2019 back as counselors on the hill. Sam, Ollie, Bix, Jonah. They just finished college and could have done anything with their summer. But they missed getting to connect with kids they somehow all knew, even after being away from camp for a bit.
Our doctors are often camp parents and alumni. Becca comes back the last week of every summer to help on the medical side, sure, but also so she can judge Color War, and get her name on the Pinecone Club.
Every time anyone tells a story about camp, it starts with somebody’s name, and then “…this [camp thing] happened.” Almost never the actual activity because the people are what comes first.
Which leads me to…
3. Friends Camp, Not Stuff Camp
We have great activities. Cool ones. Great ones. Don’t get me wrong, I love all of our stuff.
But when a Kenwood kid said to me this summer, “I wanted a friends camp, not a stuff camp,” as the reason he chose to come here, it really did click. Thanks Cole!
Everything we do at K&E is designed around building relationships, so that when you’re 15, you leave with the absolute best friends you could ever imagine having in the entire world.
That happens because we spend 1,000+ hours together every summer. And being small on purpose means kids really know each person. They’re never facing a crowd.
On the first list, I wrote that the friendships here are more like family. Summers in, I can see exactly where that comes from.
4. The Sibling Thing
My new favorite.
I think this might be the best camp in the world for becoming real friends with your sibling. We heard this from a bunch of older campers and staff this summer, about how well they get along with their brothers and sisters.
It makes sense. Each kid creates a shared language here, a kind of childhood lore that’s special for just the two or three (or four) of them. Friends at home don’t really get it. Parents only sort of do.
At the same time, each kid lives their own summer life. They do different things, and then they get to connect at different times.
It’s never embarrassing here to have your little brother or sister around. The total opposite. Everyone is excited to meet the rest of the family, and the older kids’ friends love bringing the little sibling into the camp experience.
You earn so much credibility at camp by being connected to younger kids. I have a great story about this which I think will come next week.
5. The Traditions
Traditions end up being the big rocks that hold the legacy of camp together.
No one person makes camp. But knowing you can look forward to Rope Burn, Big Weekend, Lip Sync, Hollowpalooza and Color War creates a bond across generations.
Years of hearing the Hut 6 speeches at closing campfire. Knowing House at Pooh Corner will be sung at an Evergreen campfire, and that your mom might have heard it too. That stuff all matters.
Camp doesn’t need to be exactly the same as it was 100 years ago for these traditions to hold our community together. But having the consistency matter, well, matters.
More and more, I feel like I’m part of something bigger than myself.
That’s the updated 2.0 version for now. There will be a 3.0 and a 4.0 and hopefully a 25.0.
It’s what happens when there’s a lot to love about a place.
You got this,
Jack
P.S. Been to camp before? What did I miss? I'm sure I left so much out here.
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