If you’ve ever been to summer camp you will know better than anyone just how fast summers go by. You spend 10 months of the year patiently waiting for those 2 months to come… and as soon as they do it seems like they pass by in no time at all.
Sometimes it’s just one summer you get to spend at camp, sometimes you get to come back a couple more times, the lucky ones get to spend forever at camp. It’s a magical world where you never really grow up. A Neverland and Disneyland combined into the rustic woods of rugged America.
The beautiful truth is, campers come and go, staff come and go, summers come and go, but camp is here to stay. Year after year it’s always there to welcome us home.
Every year it gets a little bit different, the world moves on and camp grows to keep up, but it’s roots are strong and deep down, it’s not changed at all.
Here’s the 15 things that never change at camp.
1. The Campfires
Ask anyone who has ever been to a summer camp and they will tell you, life is most beautiful around the campfire. As the orange flames flicker, twist and contort, and the crackling of dry wood comforts the silence, there is an energy in the air that you don’t feel too often. To put it simply, campfires are the heart and soul of summer camp. They’ve been a foundation of summer camp from the beginning and they will continue to be there long after we’ve left summer camp.
2. The Lake
During the day, the echoes of campers screaming and splashing in the lake reverberate around camp. The afternoon sun sparkles off the water and the gentle buzz of the power boat is masked behind the lapping water breaking against the lakes edges. In the evening everything becomes still and peaceful and as the sun sets you’re sharing the same view as the campers of the past.
3. The Flagpole
Hats off, heads held high. Gathering around the flagpole to raise the flag is another summer camp tradition that never changes over time, the same national anthem, the same star spangled banner, the same community.
4. 4th of July Fireworks
Just think, someone sat in the exact same spot as you 50 years ago. Their head was looking up at the sky in silence watching the bursts and blasts of fireworks.
They were just as amazed as you were.
5. The Bunks
Look closely around the bunk and you’ll find summer camp history everywhere. On the bed post, on the cubbies, the roof, the doorframe… someone will have etched their initials and the year somewhere.
Do you ever wonder if the same jokes or stories were told years ago in the bunk?
6. Camp Counselors
Millions of staff, to thousands of camps, from hundreds of countries, over dozens of years.
Every person has come with the same goal, to have the summer of a lifetime at camp. They are the same happy, caring and awesome type of people that your moms and dads met at camp.
Each one with their own unique summer stories to share.
7. Trip Days
Pack up that old yellow school bus, it’s time to go off camp for an adventure!
Just imagine how many times that yellow school bus has taken campers on trips?
8. Inter-Camps
You know that camp that always beats us at basketball? They probably beat us at basketball 40 years ago too!
It’s okay though because we’ve probably beat them at something else for the last 40 years too. Camp v Camp games are how legends are made.
9. Packing Lists
Summer on summer there is nothing more funny than watching new staff members see how much stuff campers bring to camp. Kudos to the superstar parents who somehow manage to pack it all in perfectly!
Don’t forget that tie-dye Crazy Creek! We seem them every. single. year.
10. Writing Letters
Although the world has changed drastically over the years, the rustic sense of outdoors still survives at summer camp, no technology means campers still communicate the old fashioned way — hand written letters.
It’s amazing isn’t it?!
11. The Friendships
There’s a million reasons that summer camps still exist after all this time, but one reason tops the list… the friendships that you make. You spend 8 summers of your life with the same people, you make unbreakable bonds, these friendships transcend time and distance. Camp friends are the best friends, always have been, always will be.
12. Visiting Day
Visiting Day at summer camp is like the Cyber Monday of the real world. Madness. It will never change, families haven’t seen each other in almost a month and they have half a day to make every second count. Year after year we see the same tears, hear the same laughter and feel the same connection and warmth.
13. Olympics
Olympics, Tribal, Color War, Special games… different camps have different names for it, but when the camp is split into different teams to go head to head the determination to win goes to a whole new level. Every year, every camper wants to win, it’s the ultimate camp glory and you will be able to say ‘I won Olympics’ for the rest of your life!
14. The Spirit
“We’ve got spirit yes we do, we’ve got spirit… how bout’ you?!”
Camp will forever chorus the sounds of campers cheering, you’ll hear it during meals, activities, events and probably late at night even when you’re not supposed to hear it.
Camp spirit stays forever.
15. CIT’s
From young campers to the future leaders of tomorrow, they are a reminder of the growth we see each year at camp. Every summer a new group builds on the legacy of the last. Without them camp just wouldn’t be the same.
IHC is where our kids become leaders.
So that’s our 15 Things that Never Change at Camp.. what did we miss? Comment below and let us know!
