Summer Camp 2025

A message from our Camp Director

Believe it or not, each year in November, I begin having focused conversations with summer staff about the summer to come.  We catch up on what’s been happening in their lives and discuss whether they’ll be heading back to CBC for another summer.  One of the questions I get most frequently from returning staff is “are there any big changes this coming summer?”  While we do endeavor to have something new each year, it always brings me joy to confirm that CBC will still be CBC. 

That is one of the best things about summer camp.  If you were to hop into a time machine and travel back to the dawn of summer camping in America, you wouldn’t find a whole lot of difference.  Sure, buildings may change, programmatic offerings may have expanded or shifted, and we know more about youth development and maintaining physical and emotional safety.  We’ve also, delightfully, found ways to make the table bigger and offer more seats to those who may have historically lacked a place. The essence of summer camp, however, remains unchanged. 

I recently read a letter from Jack Schott, one of the founding members of The Summer Camp Society, and an all-around brilliant camp mind, and Jack was highlighting some of the best ways that camp hasn’t changed at all over the years.  So, I’d like to share my own adaptation of Jack’s list, with deference to him, of course.

Fun is the secret trick: Ben and Jerry used to say, if it isn’t fun, why do it?  We love fun at camp!  It’s also kind of a trick, as fun is the vehicle which allows us to teach so much more!

Camps is a safe place for so many. Kids wouldn’t want to return to a place where their safety wasn’t at the forefront, whether they realize it or not. 

Camp is simple. Sure, there is a LOT going on at any moment of the camp day, but the core of the camp experience is simple: get together with a group of people, do some activities, sing a few songs…just connect with other people!

Feet are the main transportation (I stole this one directly from Jack). “Speaking of walking, it’s so underrated, the kind of connection that happens at camps simply because kids and staff walk to get places. Conversations with others, listening to the world around you, being a little uncomfortable (yes, this is ok) all happen when slowing down and just simply walking somewhere.”

Getting Outside is the best. At camp kids and adults get to spend time outdoors together by default.  You don’t need to plan to get outside, you just are, and you share that time together.

Camp is for the camper….and the staff too. We tell staff this is the hardest job you’ll ever love.  It is hard, and it’s also glorious, fun, and expansive. 

At camp, community and autonomy work hand in hand: Camp wants to see kids discover more about who they are, take healthy risks, own their choices and decisions all while acknowledging that we are here in community, and our decisions impact others. 

The friendships last: I have so many weddings I’ll be attending this year of camp friends alone! There are very few environments where the connections we make have that kind of staying power!

The Tears at the end: No, I don’t delight in people crying, but we only cry those tears at the end of a week or a summer because we had something that meant so much to us!  How lucky to have had something that means enough to be sad its over…for now.

I’ve worked in camping for 27 years, and the things that keep me working in this world now, are the things that made me fall in love with it as a child, and as a young adult.  So, come join us and see all the great things that haven’t changed at all.

We can’t wait to see you this summer and beyond!