Posts Tagged ‘building character at camp’

Just Dance!

Monday, March 27th, 2017

Dance is one of the most popular activities at Camp Starlight. It is a great sport and beneficial in many ways. It is first and foremost a really fun way to spend the summer, but it also serves as a creative outlet for campers, is a great workout, and can be helpful for both novice and seasoned dancers to assist in skill progression.

 

Taught by counselors who have a love and passion for dance, this activity is popular with boys and girls of all ages and experience levels. The great thing about participating in dance at Camp Starlight is that you can do so much more than dance. Not only do you get all the perks of a traditional sleep away camp, but there is the option to include other similar activities to your daily routine such as fitness, gymnastics, and cheerleading. Campers can expand their horizons and try different sports and activities that will help them become better dancers.

 

Learning a dance takes dedication and persistence. It is a very physical activity that can push campers out of their comfort zone, but it is also a huge confidence booster. Finally being able to perform a dance you’ve worked so hard to learn is a major accomplishment and a rush many dancers strive for. Dancing is a great way to build self-confidence, and many campers look forward to their time in the dance studio as a way to unwind, relax and let go. It provides a healthy outlet for creative expression and can be a stress reliever for many campers.

 

Dancing will definitely get your heart rate up, which is why it is such a good option for campers looking to stay (or get) physically fit over the summer. The upbeat music, the time spent with friends and the mental and physical challenges that come with learning a new dance make it one of those exercises that doesn’t feel like a workout at all. Dancing is a great cardio workout and improves coordination, flexibility, and balance at the same time.

 

The other thing campers love about dancing at camp is that regardless of skill level or experience, every camper feels welcomed, encouraged and supported. Everyone helps and learns from each other, and it is a safe place to be vulnerable and try new things. So put on your dancing shoes and let your inner dancer shine at Camp Starlight!

 

Famous Faces of Summer Camps

Friday, April 29th, 2011

Famous Faces of Summer Camps

Have you ever thought about what your bunkmates might be doing ten or twenty years down the road? Maybe you have said to one another that you want to come back some day and be counselors, division leaders, and maybe you even dream of being a head counselor. But did you ever consider that the camper in the bunk next to you may end up on the big screen, in the final seconds of the Super Bowl, or even behind a big wooden desk in the White House? Well it may seem crazy to consider now, when you see them all decked out in Starlight gear and occasionally shaking their napkin, but this is the reality of many former campers around the country.  It is very surprising to find out how many of the who’s who in American society once found themselves spending their childhood summers in the magical places known as summer camps!

Here are a few famous faces that spent their summers at summer camps around the country:

Cindy Crawford, model Bob Dylan, folk singer
Tre Cool, Green Day drummer Jamie Lee Curtis, actress
Bill Clinton, US President Candice Bergen, actress
George W. Bush, US President Michael Jordan, professional athlete
Jeff Daniels, Dumb and Dumber Julia Louis-Dreyfus, actress
Robert Downey Jr., Actor Dustin Hoffman, actor
Conan O’Brien, TV Host Chris Farley, actor
Denzel Washington, actor Chevy Chase, actor
Ruth Ginsberg, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Supreme Court Justice

We searched the stacks of Starlight history to find our sole most famous person to walk down camp road. We found most definitely that man is Paul Simon! But what does our future hold? Maybe you will be Camp Starlight’s next claim to fame!

Sparking Creativity Through Campfire

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011


One of the most endearing and sacred parts of summer camp is the campfire.  More than just wood lit with a match, it’s an intimate part of the camping experience that goes far beyond simply sitting around a fire.  Each camp has a set of traditions uniquely connected to the campfire experience and, to campers, each tradition is significant, demanding reverence.  The campfire is the very place where many children recall the moment when their camp transformed from “a camp” to “their camp”, where fellow campers and counselors become family while singing songs, roasting s’mores, and engaging in campfire activities.   So intricate is the campfire to the summer camp experience that even former Disney CEO Michael Eisner has reflected on its importance in making him who he is:

“Simply consider the lessons I was taught by the campfire…every time the rich reward was the same as we simply sat and enjoyed our consuming creation. And, there was one aspect in particular that never failed to intrigue me, and that was the process of seeing the single small flame of the match spread to the kindling and then the twigs and then the smaller branches and finally the larger logs. It didn’t dawn on me until years later, but this was the perfect metaphor for the creative process…Years later, I found myself running a network television division and then a movie studio and now an entire entertainment company. But, much of the success I’ve achieved can be traced to the direct and metaphorical
lessons I learned in building those campfires.”

To some, to assign such significance to fire may seem a bit of a stretch.  But to anyone who has attended camp, it’s not only believable but apt.  Beyond Eisner’s metaphor, the campfire is symbolic of camp, and represents the bonding between campers and nature.  Campfires instantly evoke feelings of togetherness and promote an atmosphere of being together in an intimate setting that is unique to the people who are present.  Many camps hold opening and closing campfires to welcome campers and immerse them in the camping experience and to help them say goodbye at the end of the summer.  At the beginning of the summer, the flames represent the birth of a new summer.  Opening campfires often include some sort of ritual that introduces an idea or process that can be re-visited throughout the summer, such as setting goals for the summer or some sort of introduction and bonding activity with camp “siblings”.  The meaning of the flames, however, transforms at the end of the summer. The burning of a closing campfire represents the end of the season.  It’s a way to give the summer a proper and respectful send off.  Campfires held throughout the summer supplement overnight camping trips and special events.

To say that the campfire breeds creativity is not only accurate, but understated.  The various representations and meanings that the actual fire itself takes on helps campers learn to look at the same thing from different angles, a crucial aspect of honing creative thought and learning to think “outside the box”, which is essential to developing good problem solving skills.  When considered from this perspective, it’s not at all difficult to imagine a CEO of one of the world’s largest companies crediting much of his success to his camp experiences, specifically to the campfire.  In fact, it provides insight about the significance of camp and how the lessons learned there can be carried throughout life.

1,3,5,6 We Want Olympics!

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

Over several decades, across many miles, and in the heart of campers of all ages lies the excitement of arguably the most anticipated event of the summer. When will it happen? Who will be our leadership? What team will I be on? These questions echo in the minds of campers and counselors alike throughout the school year, and they only grow more intense as the summer progresses. So what is this hallowed event that has everyone’s attention? And what is it about this event that has everyone so excited?

Well, at Camp Starlight we call this thrilling week of spirit and competition Olympics! Our campers and staff pass many a spare moment over the year thinking about what the team names will be, who will be the officers and captains, and what the theme for Sing will be. Once the summer kicks off, and the weeks begin to pass, whispers about when it will break can be heard around camp.

But as anyone who has spent a summer at Starlight will tell you, Olympics is an exhilarating week of athletic, strategic, and academic competition. Whether your strength is playing on the soccer field, catching cheese balls on your shaving cream laden head, or having the fastest buzzer pressing thumb in Wayne County, your team will be depending on your contribution! From the second Olympics breaks to the moment your feet hit the lake after the final scores are announced, the electrifying spirit of the Blue and the White can be felt in the air. At Starlight, there is no doubt that we truly do justice to the time honored tradition shared by summer camps around the country and passed down over many years.

So the next time you catch yourself daydreaming of smearing on your face paint or spraying your hair in your team’s shade, know that there is another Starlighter somewhere sharing in your excitement and anticipation. So until we’re back together facing off on the fields, dodging gigs in our seats, and handing off the baton, make sure to keep “B-L-U-E, we got the spirit!” and “We are the white team! Couldn’t be prouder!” fresh in your thoughts!

Everything I Learned Outside. . .

Tuesday, January 4th, 2011

In Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv retells a moment in a restaurant when his son asked, “Dad, how come it was more fun when you were a kid?” Louv had been telling his 10-year old about how he caught crawdads by stringing bits of liver across a creek. When asked to explain, the son replied, “Well, you’re always talking about your woods and tree houses, and how you used to ride that horse down by the swamp.” At first, Louv thought Matthew was irritated and owns up to the fact that like other parents, he can romanticize his own childhood at the expense of his children’s current experience. But Matthew really felt that he had missed out on something, and Louv realized that his own childhood had been different.

If you’re in Louv’s age bracket, you may also recall a childhood filled with a kind of free, natural play that today seems like an antique artifact compared to current kid’s lives. Lives filled with mobile devices, instant messaging, screen time, digital games and fears of “things” outside. In his book, Louv explores “the increasing divide between the young and the natural world, as well as the environmental, social, psychological, and spiritual implications of that change.” He discusses the accumulating research that implies that secure children (and adults for that matter) must connect with nature to fully develop. This need for contact with the natural world is as imperative as good nutrition and adequate sleep. So, while multiple reasons give us less and less time to connect outdoors, more and more studies suggest that embracing nature is a human necessity.

The ways in which children understand and experience nature has changed beyond recognition for Americans born during the last two decades. While children today may be more aware of the global threats to our larger environment, they are much less aware of their immediate natural surroundings. As children, Louv and his peers may not have discussed global warming, or holes in the ozone layer, but they loved “their woods” and fields intimately and felt connected to the people and their location in the world. They identified specific bends and crooks in creeks and holes in backyards—explored the woods in solitude, lay in fields listening to the wind and marveled at clouds shape-shifting overhead.

Louv discovered that many people yearn for what they have missed living in de-natured environments and they are consciously making choices and decisions to ensure that they will not be “the last children in the woods.” Families and intergenerational groups are finding ways to better live with nature and each other. Summer camp, for example, is one marvelous way for youngsters to make long-lasting memories and deep connections in natural surroundings. With easy access to the great outdoors and opportunities to develop self-reliance within a nurturing community, today’s campers will remember fun-filled childhoods unplugged from urban life—and share their unique memories with future generations.

How can you make sure that you and your kids don’t miss out on the benefits of exploring outdoors? (For the record, I’ve been known to insist that my children at least squish mud between their toes and jump in puddles!)

Deborah-Eve

Summer Camp and Child Development

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

“The organized summer camp is the most important step in education that America has given the world.”
Charles W. Eliot, former president of Harvard University, 1922

If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you know that we’ve focused a lot on how much fun kids have at camp — learning new sports; spending time with friends old and new; going on amazing trips; connecting with friends and counselors. But camp is also an educational experience for the children. We’re so used to education being “school” that it’s a real shift in perception to see lacrosse, tennis, living in a bunk, and other camp activities as education; but educational activities they are, as many parents can attest now their kids are back in school!

Summer camps make a huge difference in the year-round education of our children, but it may require a shift in our thinking about what education is and can be. The American Academy of Pediatrics, alongside many other scholars of child development, explains why, as “Play is essential to development as it contributes to the cognitive, physical, social, and emotional well-being of children and youth.” Our kids learn while playing and they are learning important things about themselves as independent social beings, collaboratively working with others and consequential behaviors such as self reliance, responsibility and accountability.

So what kind of difference can summer camp make to your child’s development? As the Executive Director of the American Camp Association, Peg Smith has been telling the world for years, opportunities for growth and development exist in natural settings that promote experiential learning, improve social skills and physical fitness, teach children to take calculated risks in a safe environment, and expand the creative mind. The environment our kids learn in is important, and nothing beats Nature.

As you can see, summer camp is one of the most precious educational gifts you can give your children. If you would like to read more, check out The Experiential Classroom: Camp (3/10) by Marla Coleman in The American Camping Association’s Camping magazine. We’d also like to hear what you believe summer camp has taught you and your children! Please feel free to share in the comments section below.

Susan