Forging New Friendships in the Woods at Summer Camp

Published September 15th, 2016
By Katie Grove, Instructor
Tagged with: Summer Camp

It is hard to believe the session is already over! It went by so quickly, yet was packed with adventures and plenty of laughter.

We continued many building projects, made beautiful crafts, really dove into learning to make and tend fires (before it got too hot), played tons of games, heard amazing stories during circle, and finished our camp weaving and gifted it to Simon (the Associate Director of Wild Earth) during our closing circle.

We even started a new tradition: The Screech Owl Summer Olympics! After a memorable opening ceremony, including the lighting of the torch, many campers spent the day doing a series of activities including balancing, ring toss, races, throwing contests and more! It was tons of fun for both campers and staff : )

One of my favorite parts of this particular camp session was seeing how many new friendships were formed. By the second week of camp I couldn’t tell who was new to Wild Earth and who has been in our programs for years!

On the last day of camp I saw children hugging each other goodbye and heard parents asking for each other’s contact information. It brings me such joy to see these connections being made and I can’t wait to see these friendships continue.

That is the amazing thing about being in nature. It puts us in situations where everything is new and allows us to grow and change in ways that we never could otherwise. On behalf of the Screech Owl staff I want to thank you for giving your child the opportunity to spend two weeks in the woods and for making our first camp session at Stony Kill a success!

Thanks so much again and please call or email me anytime if you want to talk about this session or future programs.

Katie G and the Screech Owls Staff

Esperanza, Jules, Ellie, Emile, Leo, Morgane, Sam, Gideon, Phoebe, Rebecca, Katie M, and Izzy