As we’ve written quite a bit about this summer in these updates, goal setting is really important to us here at Camp Nebagamon. We all know that there’s just so much value in giving kids a chance to decide what’s important to them and then creating space for them to flourish in those areas. Between ranks, and trips, and social situations, the opportunities to set and pursue goals abound. However, in Camp as in life back home, the process of working towards those goals can be difficult. As our campers follow their passions towards goals they inevitably face challenges. When they do, it’s up to them (with the support of our fantastic counselors) to figure out how to work through those challenges, learn from them, and maybe even find some joy in them – all while keeping that end goal in sight. Working towards goals at Camp requires grit… and I’m not talking about the grit I found in the fajitas at the Swamper village cabin cookout sites last night! Grit – as in using our goals as motivation to persevere in the face of challenges.
If you ask me, grit is one of the most valuable traits we pass on to our campers. Campers learn to not just give up when things get hard, but to use their passion for whatever goal they’re out to achieve to push them through. With grit comes self-confidence. Our campers learn that when they set out to achieve something important to them, they can face whatever lies ahead of them.
Yesterday we bore witness to an impressive display of grit by one of our eighth grade campers.
The highest rank at our canoeing project is called “Master.” Achieving the Master rank first requires working through all five other ranks in canoeing. Each of those ranks entails meeting between five and ten smaller milestones. For example, in the beginning canoe ranks, campers learn simple strokes. As they progress they put those skills to use paddling varying lengths across Lake Nebagamon. As they move through the ranks they learn to lift a canoe and place it on their shoulders, called a “launch and lift.” When they can accomplish that initial launch and lift they then learn to portage, walking with the canoe first for shorter distances and then progressively for longer distances. By the time they begin working towards Master (which, by the way, fewer than twenty campers have achieved in the 20 years since its inception), campers already excel in canoeing. They have great boat awareness and maneuverability and they can portage canoes for considerable distances.
The Master is a rank that challenges campers both physically and mentally, and yesterday that eighth grader accomplished perhaps the most difficult milestone of all: paddling the 13-mile perimeter of Lake Nebagamon…solo! There was always a counselor alongside him for the duration of his paddle, but this camper’s canoe was his to paddle alone.
This camper had been working towards his Master for two years, so in that time there have certainly been challenges to overcome. Despite his track record of perseverance, yesterday threw him some curveballs that really could have set him off course. As he departed Camp, the weather was great – somewhat overcast, but relatively warm with some minor wind. However, about a third of the way into his paddle as he rounded into the lake’s Southeast bay, the wind picked up drastically. As a passionate canoeist myself, I volunteered to paddle with this dedicated Lumberjack for a section of his adventure. A staff member drove me out in a motor boat and deposited me and my canoe next to the camper just as the wind picked up. The boat drove away and the camper and I headed straight into the wind. I’m not going to lie, I was having a tough time! With no weight in the front of my boat (I, too, was soloing) it was easy for the wind to push me off course. The baseline wind was relentless and the frequent gusts on top of that were consistent. They’d hit us head on and then we’d almost immediately see a patch of dark water moving towards us indicating the approach of yet another gust eager to spin our bows sideways. As I struggled along I asked the Lumberjack how he was doing… “This is awesome!” he responded cheerfully. “Unbelievable,” I thought.
As we kept paddling he recommended that we move closer to shore where we’d find reduced wind. Sure enough, the going was much better. Even in difficulty he found a solution to keep moving forward. As we reached the end of the bay we were both glad; though perhaps I was glad-er to turn and head west along the other side of the bay. We stopped to rest our arms. Mine were certainly feeling heavy, though he insisted he was feeling “great!” As we started paddling once again, it started to rain because… of course it did! “This is perfect paddling weather,” the Lumberjack informed me. “Unbelievable,” I thought.
We paddled for another thirty minutes in the rain and all the while he led our conversation in directions that had absolutely nothing to do with the weather or the wind. Another staff member swapped out with me and I headed back to land to get dry, moved by the Lumberjack’s tenacity.
Four hours later, our waterfront directors formed an armada of sailboats, along with canoes, rowboats and kayaks to meet the canoeing Master (he still has a couple milestones to accomplish but he’s a Master in my book!) at Lorber Point to accompany him across the finish line. Everyone at the waterfront cheered his name and applauded his accomplishment. Though the smile on his face never wavered throughout the paddle, I noticed a difference in his countenance. This already-confident camper had taken on something hard, and all the while his momentum towards his final goal never once wavered. Instead he used his positive attitude, as relentless as the nagging wind, and problem solving skills to make it through. The additional confidence he’d gained out on the lake, a byproduct of his grit, was evident on his face.
What that camper accomplished yesterday was remarkable, and was inspiring to all of the other campers who watched it happen from those boats as he paddled to the finish line, and to me too.
At Camp Nebagamon grit is a part of our daily routine. Of course not every camper will paddle around the lake, but every camper will face a challenge in the pursuit of goals – whether it’s learning to swim, or making it to the top of our climbing wall, or navigating social dynamics in a cabin. In their four or eight weeks at Camp, they learn that while the road towards a goal isn’t always easy, with a bit of perseverance they can do hard things.
What’s more they learn what it feels like to believe so deeply in a goal, and so deeply in themselves that their belief keeps them paddling through wind or rain.
All is well in the Northwoods!