By Noah Stein
With winter bearing down I think that for many of us our minds wander to memories of the warmer days of summer at Nebagamon. Flying across the lake aboard the Hobie Cat. Reeling in a fish at the end of the dock. Stargazing on the upper diamond.
Compared to the offseason, things are just different at Camp Nebagamon. I hear that refrain frequently. But the differences between Camp and the offseason are about more than just the awesome activities and all the fun we get to have during the summer. There’s so much more that makes Camp just different.
There’s the independence campers get at Nebagamon. Name one other place where kids decide exactly what activities they want to do every single day? Where they examine 20 activities on a Project Board every morning and pick whatever they want to do. I certainly can’t. That independence allows campers to build confidence and executive functioning skills.
What about screen-free time? The value campers find in hanging out with one another in-person with no distraction is huge at Camp. Campers gain so many important social skills and have a chance to be present in a way that is pretty difficult (at least for me) in the world of screens.
At Nebagamon every day campers have experiences in the outdoors… probably more than most of us have in our lives back home. From backpacking along the Caribbean-blue waters of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore to taking in sunsets at Lorber Point, spending so much time outside allows campers to see some amazing sights while enabling them to explore. That exploration teaches problem solving, teamwork and perseverance. Now that I think about it, our whole summer is one big experience in the outdoors!
The community at Camp is just different as well. Sure we have great communities back home too, but there’s something different about how we all live our values at Camp. You can ask anyone; Swamper or Lumberjack, Specialist or Tripper, what the sign says in front of the Big House and not only will they recite the words on the sign, This Shall Be A Place of Welcome For All, but they’ll also tell you what the words mean. Anybody in our community can describe what the phrase looks like in practice. In our Nebagamon community we live by those words so we can create a space where we all feel comfortable growing into ourselves, together.
Camp is different on purpose. We go out of our way to make it different because we know how important those factors are for positive development and for building character… for campers and, well, for all of us!
Wow, I miss Camp. Don’t you?
Well, I have a proposition. Let’s make this year different on purpose too. Instead of simply missing Camp, longing for summer to come faster than it will, let’s take action. Let’s use some of what makes Camp, Camp, as tenants for our New Year’s resolutions… I know it’s only December but if we plan these resolutions now we can “lock in” (as the kids say) and hit the ground running in January!
Consider this an invitation to set goals for your year based on themes like independence, screen-free time, experiences in the outdoors, community and anything else that you can think of that makes Camp different (of course there are more than just these four traits)! These goals don’t need to be complicated or disruptive. I’m sure setting up a Project Board in your home and choosing from 20 activities after breakfast is not happening, but maybe choosing to do one thing every day to make your family or school more of a place of welcome for all is possible. Even the simplest Nebagamon-inspired resolution would go a long way towards bringing that summer warmth into our winter lives.
If you do follow through with a Nebaga-resolution, we’d love to hear how it’s going! Please send updates to noah@campnebagamon.com… who knows, maybe we’ll even feature your story in a future Arrowhead! It will be inspiring to see how across the country and across the world, with a bit of intentionality, we were able to infuse more of Camp into our lives, into our communities, and into the world.
Who’s in?
Some of these walks were in truly special places, like the Boundary Waters, and Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks (I’m stretching the definition here a little… plenty of those “walks” fall more into the categories “hikes” or “portages,” but we’re counting it). Plenty were from our little cabin on the edge of Camp Nebagamon into camp proper to join the campers for lunch at the Rec Hall. And where we live in Chicago, nearly all of the walks have been through our neighborhood and in the forest preserve across the street from our house. While the geysers, mountains, and pristine lakes of the parks destinations we visited this year were truly spectacular, I’ve been consistently more surprised with the nature that is just outside our front door here within the city limits of Chicago.
5th Grade – Henry Bader, Beckett Bernfeld, Aiken Colman, Sammy Firestone, Carter Gray, Dylan Greene, Gage Holloway, Sam Kotin, Ryan Levin, Aiden Naft, Jeffers Pickard, Ray Temkin, Josh Wallenstein
4th – Ron Gaare