Check out the fourth season of Building A Stomping Ground where Maddy interviews the 10 Non-profit leaders that we partner with to get kids to camp each summer. Through intimate conversations, listeners gain insight into the crucial work these organizations undertake, the barriers they encounter, and the transformative power of adopting an abundance and partnership mindset.

On a random day in August 2023, the dessert was stolen from the campers of Stomping Ground. There had been ongoing speculation as to who done it, and on this particular day we may get to the bottom of it! 

Members of Blueberry Village appointed these two outstanding staff members to handle this case The future of dessert hangs in the balance. Justice, much like dessert, will be served.

ow do we stay honest? In trying so many things I hope to stay on the path of honest expression. Being able to experiment with ideas and share in that with the community is a part of this process I really value. A fun piece of content is easy. How does what you create allow people to meet themselves? This is what’s always going through my mind when thinking about what a long project would look like.

The Stomping Ground year-round Camper Board is an opportunity to collaborate with campers to design, revise, and rearrange the sandbox of camp. 

It feels like we are seconds away from a physical fight. Jack, my co-director and chief ‘systems’ officer, decides to pull all of the boys into the office for a change in scenery. Not knowing where this will go, and feeling scared by the lack of control, it would have been easy at this moment to totally take over, find someone in the group to blame and to exile that person in hopes of re-establishing a norm, a sense of order. Instead, Jack decides to wait. Once no one is in physical danger, can we work this out? Luckily there is a young man in the cabin group, let’s call him Preston,  who takes over.

He lays out some ground rules, gets his thoughts out oin the open, expletives included, and then does something extraordinary, he asks for his aggressor’s perspective.

ArtsFest is a teens-only program where we celebrate all forms of creation and create space for campers to pursue the art forms of their choice. One of the 2023 concentrations was writing, where camper Margot P both wrote and performed the following two poems:
Searching for Dragons and Absolutes.

It feels like camp just ended, I can still smell the sunscreen, hear the sounds of finding the last key in the night game, and see the campers swirling around Downtown. 

But it’s already time to think about next summer! Because…

Summer 2024 registration opens on Sunday October 15th at 9am EST!!!

At Stomping Ground we give campers an abundance of choice throughout their day, we trust them to spend their time in a way that feels fruitful and fun for them. Making space for campers to not only choose their activities but create them from scratch takes the concept of choice even further; it allows them to fully imagine and construct precisely how they want to spend their time, and then share their creations with the rest of camp.

What are we becoming?
What is a person?
What constitutes being human?
What is identity?
Is there intrinsic value in being yourself?
If so, why?
And finally, why is any of this important?

During Restorative Justice training, we talk about using The Circle System to solve conflicts. Participants nod along and take notes as we explain how we walk campers through the process. But then they inevitably ask: "What about staff?"

What they're really saying is "Okay fine- but if it really worked, you'd solve staff conflicts with circles." And we do. I can think of three circles from this past season that had a profound and lasting effect on me (two of which included me as a participant). This is the story of one of them.