Summer Matters

Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships

A few weeks ago, I sat with a group of Juniper 2006 alumni.

Their oldest kids are getting close to camp age. And they had questions. Not about schedules or pricing or activities.

They wanted to know if the traditions would still be there.

Peanut Pals. Shield of Honor. Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Opening Campfire. Mess Ugly. Spirit Night. If some of these are new to you, they won’t be for long. If you’ve been here before, these mean everything to you.

That conversation stuck with me. Because what they were really asking was: will camp still feel like camp?

The traditions make the place

Sitting with those former Junipers, I realized they felt tied to specific people. Phyllis, Jacki, and Scott have stewarded these moments for years. Kept them going. Passed them along. Started some from scratch.

Jacki and Scott are still at camp. Scott will still lead Friday night services. Jacki’s 110% speech will still fire you up at Opening Campfire.

And what I saw in that room was the answer to their question.

These traditions aren’t fragile. They’ve already survived decades of new staff, new directors, new families. They survive because they’re not about any one person. They’re about what happens when kids live together long enough for something real to form.

Peanut Pals isn’t just connecting girls across units. It’s a 7-year-old realizing an actual older kid thinks they’re worth looking out for.

Opening Campfire isn’t about gathering and singing songs. It’s the first time all of Kenwood and Evergreen are all in one place.

The traditions create the moments. The moments create the memories. The memories bring the Junipers back twenty years later asking if their kids can have the same thing.

Your kid and camp traditions

Most places with strong traditions use them to keep people out. You earn your way in. Prove you belong. Wait your turn.

Camp works the opposite way.

K&E has been around for almost a hundred years because all we do is put kids into the tradition immediately. Your kid doesn’t know what Opening Campfire is on Day 1. By the end of Week 1, they’re in it. Traditions at camp are inclusive to all campers. They are the soul of the place, and frankly, why new kids love this place from Day 1.

One of the Juniper girls told me her daughter would be coming to camp in two years.

It wasn’t because she’d heard about something new. It was because the soul of camp is the same as when she was here. Same as it’s been for decades.

See you this summer!

Jack

P.S. If you don’t know what Peanut Pal and Shield of Honor are, I’d love to explain them to you and what they mean for your child. Schedule a quick call here to talk camp.

P.P.S. I am up at camp all month, posting videos from different spots every day. Follow along at any of the links below.