Happy Sunday! For our new-to-camp parents out there, Sunday at Camp isa special day. We start with a thirty-minute late wake up. Then we head to the Rec Hall for cinnamon rolls or coffee cake for breakfast. We alternate every week and there is intense debate over which reigns supreme – today was cinnamon roll day, my personal favorite.
After breakfast we gather for Sunday Service, a non-religious talk presented by a senior staff member about a value or something of importance to the speaker. This morning our community social worker, Adam, taught us about the idea of “conflict as a compass.” He proposed that while it’s no fun to have a conflict, there’s a lot to be learned from them about ourselves and the person on the other end of the disagreement.
This afternoon we had project periods, as always, and since we were graced with a 75 degree and sunny day, the waterfront was the place to be! Almost our whole fleet of sailboats was out on Lake Nebagamon along with a number of canoes and rowboats.
It’s been a classic Sunday at Nebagamon so far; ample time for reflection via the Sunday Service, with a balance of typical camp fun. But I really want to focus on what’s going to happen this evening. After dinner a bell will ring for Council Fire. Shortly thereafter campers will walk in silent single file lines by village to the Council Fire Ring, an amphitheater nestled in our pine forest with hand-crafted benches surrounding a large fire ring in which we ignite a roaring bonfire once our Camp Family has assembled. When most of us imagine a large group of boys from 8 through 15, I think the word “silence” doesn’t typically jump to the top of our minds, but our boys know that the silence is important and they respect it. They understand the weight of Council Fire, a tradition that has been a part of the fabric of Camp Nebagamon since its earliest days. It’s an opportunity for all of us as a community to gather around a fire and watch a presentation planned by a senior counselor.
Similar to Sunday Service, Council Fire is a time and place where we learn about our values: perhaps kindness, friendship, or perseverance. The presentation often takes the form of skits which are a combination of engaging, thoughtful and funny. They always make us think.
Our counselors are great at tying council fire themes into life at camp. Tonight’s Council Fire will be about taking risks. What a great first Council Fire of the session! The presentation focused specifically on encouraging campers to take the first step toward a risk, as that is often the scariest part of leaving your comfort zone. It was a great message that works well with our values here. Campers build confidence and independence by taking risks and doing hard things, and the fire reflected that value.
I always love the presentations, and we cap off the evening with one of my favorite traditions we participate in at Camp: the Keylog Ceremony. By the time the skits are through, our fire has burnt down to a bed of coals. We invite campers, if they would like, to stand in front of our whole community to thank someone who has made a difference in their life in the past week, and then place a log on the council fire in their honor. We hear some truly meaningful keylogs every week: campers place logs on the fire for their counselors who helped them work through their homesickness, or to their friends for being kind cabinmates. By the time the Keylog Ceremony is over the fire has been rebuilt due to the kindness in our community… I know, it’s such a great metaphor.
I love the Keylog Ceremony for a few reasons. First, when else do kids as young as second graders have a chance to stand and speak in front of over 200 people? The Keylog Ceremony affords them the opportunity to practice public speaking. Next, the Keylog Ceremony teaches us to say “thank you.” Before a camper gets up there in front of everyone, they really need to consider how they are going to acknowledge someone for doing something kind. Finally, because we participate in this sacred tradition of the Keylog Ceremony every week, the culture of gratitude becomes ingrained in what we do here. Gratitude is something that we cherish at Nebagamon. The Keylog Ceremony is a public display of thanks which sends waves of gratitude through our community. Saying, “thank you” is something really special to us here; something that we do every day, and highlight with one of our most cherished traditions.
To that end, I’ve been thinking recently about how Keylog Ceremonies are really just the tip of the iceberg in terms of all of the kind things that happen in our community. I figure that, while we have many Keylogs thrown on the fire each week, there are probably tons of notable kind deeds that happen every single day that don’t get acknowledged in the Keylog Ceremony. So, once again (as I did in an earlier update first session), I put on my investigative journalist hat and walked around Camp after the Sunday Service this morning to inquire about kind deeds that have happened at Camp so far this session. I spoke to campers of every age, counselors, and administrators and asked “what is something nice or helpful that someone has done for you in the last week.” Here are some highlights from what I heard divided into themes:
- I spoke to 30 people and about 20 of them led with something like, “there’s some many nice things that happened, I need to think about it!” I LOVED HEARING THAT! So many nice things happened that they needed to sift through them all before giving me the best answer.
- Our community is welcoming:
Logger: “An eight weeker in my cabin was really nice to me when I arrived.”
Swamper: “This is my first summer at camp and the other kids who have been here before were really nice to me when I got to the cabin for the first time.”
Axeman: “I was a little nervous when I got here because it’s my first time, but [a cabinmate] introduced me to everyone else and I felt really welcomed.”
- Our community is inclusive:
Logger: I had never played Magic: the Gathering before and [my friend] taught me how to play so that I could join in the game.”
Lumberjack: “I was looking at the project board trying to figure out what I was going to do yesterday and [another camper] came over and invited me to go rowing with him fourth period.”
- Our community is thoughtful:
Counselor: “When one of my campers was in the infirmary, another camper stepped up to take over his responsibility of sweeping under the table after lunch.”
Camp Photographer: “A counselor went out of his way to help me organize cabin groups for their cabin pictures.”
Lumberjack: “Before my first ever game of pushball one of my cabinmates gave me some advice about how to throw the huge ball.”
- Our community is supportive:
Here’s one from me: “I was out on a waterski boat yesterday with four swampers, who had never been up on waterskis before. While they tried so hard, a grand total of zero of the campers stood up on skis. However, after each try the other campers would cheer one another on. What could have been a frustrating experience was actually SO MUCH FUN.”
Swamper: “I was feeling homesick and my cabinmate helped me” Me: “What did he do to help you?” Swamper: “He told me he was also feeling homesick.”
Logger: “I was in the infirmary and the staff kept checking on me to make sure I was doing alright. My counselors checked on me too. It was actually kind of fun!”
I can’t imagine how large our council fire would be if a Keylog was thrown on for every act of kindness in our community. Sundays are sweet at Nebagamon because in addition to enjoying cinnamon rolls and coffee cake, we talk explicitly about our values and show gratitude publicly. However all day, every day, at Nebagamon, goodwill and gratitude abound.
All is well in the Northwoods!