News from Nature Camps
"It's about a sense of wonder!"
June 2007
Spend the summer at Nature Camps! We're still accepting applications for all four sessions. Spend 2, 4, 6, or 8 weeks in the fields and streams. Sessions are closing quickly.
Our Summer Programs
From Director Don Webb:
In High School, I was introduced to the poetry of Robert Frost. Two
poems especially resonanted deeply, Birches and The
Road Not Taken. At
my recent graduate school commencement at Antioch University -- New England,
the key note speaker, an older tan Vermonter, ended his address by slowly,
and with emphasis on certain phrases, recited from memory The
Road Not Taken. Watching him passionately recite the words, with his Vermont accent,
brought forth familiar as well as new meanings for me.
First, let me share the poem, The Road Not Taken.
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There is something new for me in these words, something
that brings forth a deep knowing of how effective Nature Camps has been
for children, their parents, and fellow staff members --and for me --
over these thirty-three years -- providing unique sensory awareness,
adventure-experiential education, experiences.
In 1974 I chose to take the road that led to the creation of Nature Camps.
And, here, at age 65, I continue to marvel at how age truly doesn’t
matter in terms of one’s goals – the pathways we take. Two
years ago, I chose to study for my second Masters, this one in Marriage
and Family Therapy. I observed possible roads to take, and my choice,
as with the creation of Nature Camps, has truly “made all the difference.”
Here, at Nature Camps, we too face choices – and the ones we make
echo the same values we’ve held close for thirty-three years. We
chose Adventure and Environmental Education (Sensory Awareness) as it
is transforming – changing perceptions, heightening awareness,
changing lives. Our children master outdoor skills, thrive in an atmosphere
of caring and respect, bring forth a spirit of adventure and excitement,
and are assured of their inestimable worth.
From Former Camper/Counselor Mandy Koch :
Nature Camp has been my home ever since I was just a little bump in my mama’s dress at camp – she was the nurse there, in the ‘Happy Hollow’ woods when she was pregnant with me. My sisters, just little girls then, were flitting through the forests like tree sprites, learning what I would later know too – of magical trees, dear friends, of the secret stillness and beauty of animals and plants native to those woods, the notes that make up our symphony of nature and ultimately a gentler way of living. |
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The family I found at camp stays with me still, and I love the thrilled way that counselors now (who used to be my campers when I was a counselor) say, “I’ve been coming here for 11 years!” They have found the same family there that I did when I was in their muddy shoes. Camp nurtured me as a child, an adolescent and young adult the way that all parents hope that children will be cared for by the larger community: with tenderness, guidance, plenty of space for growth and wild play. I was free to wander through the woods and examine the natural world with wide curiosity and joy, holding the hands of more genuinely loving friends (both child and adult) than one young girl could ever hope for. These friends helped me grow into a confident, secure adult with values rooted in the traditional Quaker way: humility, passivism, consensus-building, equality, gentleness, responsibility, and acceptance. It was a place that I learned how to recognize and celebrate the innate goodness in myself and in others. This was and continues to be a real family to me – in the same way that Don’s is for so many other young people. Camp is a place I’ll always return to for safety, belonging, nourishment.