Highlights of HTSG Season One with Klee
Staff singing the camp song after grateful and ah-ha moments! We miss you!
This past month and a half has been incredible. About two months ago Jack gave me a call and said, “Hey Klee. I have no idea how long we’ll be in quarantine or what the world will look like tomorrow or in 2 weeks. In the meantime, let’s figure out a way to launch online camp to offer to our families.” The following day our team put together a plan to run one week of online camp. After the first day, we knew it was possible to keep pushing the limits, get more staff onboard and offer more hours of programming.
Overtime we worked through logistics, learned from our mistakes, and built better systems to run the program more effectively. During each night of staff training, we end with a closing circle to share grateful and “ah-ha” moments of the day. I’d love to share with you a few of my grateful and ah-ha moments from season 1 of Hometown Stomping Ground.
Spa day with Tursh and Klee!!
“Ah-ha Moment”
A few weeks ago, I ran “Spa Day” with Tursh. It was a 9:30 AM option, and we had about 6 kids join. We started with an opening prompt asking the participants how they were taking care of themselves at home. We heard answers like drawing, taking longer showers, and drinking tea. After everyone shared, we practiced a mindfulness activity together and then introduced a recipe to make a face mask. Through Zoom, we facilitated 6 kids making a homemade face mask from ingredients they all had at home. We answered questions, shared silly stories from camp, and talked about what our current routines were looking like. When it was time, we all put the face masks on our faces. As soon as I looked up to see kids at home with oats and honey on their face I was overcome with “the camp feels.” Here we were, all miles apart from each other, some kids who have never even met at camp, and all giggling and finding real connection because of a silly activity we were all doing together. It was the most fun. Oftentimes at camp there are certain moments when I’m covered in s'mores or shaving cream that feel so special that I think to myself, “I can’t believe this is a real job I get to have.” It was during this activity that I felt that overwhelming feeling of gratitude I so often get at camp, and couldn’t believe I was feeling the same way about our program on Zoom.
“Ah-ha” Moment
We have also learned so much about restorative practices on Zoom and how to respond to conflict during our virtual options. These moments don’t always feel as good as the ones where I’m laughing about oats and honey on my face, but I’ve come to realize they are equally as important to think through. We’ve adapted the circle system to work on Zoom and continue to get better at supporting kids working through frustration or difficulty while online. Just like at camp during the summer, our systems aren’t perfect, but we come together to work through conflict collaboratively and agree to take care of ourselves and the community. Read more about my thoughts on this here.
Grateful moment
Teen retreat was so fun! Virtual Prom was incredible.
Last weekend we ran the first ever Online Teen Leadership Retreat. We had about 25 teens join us for programming from Friday-Sunday. We watched TED talks and had discussions, threw the first ever Camp Prom, we even got to watch Jack being thrown in the lake! While listening to teens debrief the weekend and share their favorite moments, I couldn’t help but think back to when I was 14-16, and how I would have been pretty nervous to join an online retreat with some people I didn’t know. I felt so grateful for the teens for being so welcoming to one another, jumping into trying new things, and being willing to be their silly and goofy camp selves even online. I think this is a testament to the sense of belonging and community that Stomping Ground creates.
Grateful moment
The creativity, dedication, and energy the staff bring to virtual options makes this program. Without our staff, HTSG would not be possible. I am feeling overwhelmingly grateful for their willingness to help this program run and bring the same hype they bring to activities over the summer to their computer screens. Staff, thank you for making my days so much better along with all of the campers attending your sessions.
Over the next couple of weeks, our year round team will put our heads together to retool, dream, and build season 2 of Hometown Stomping Ground. Thank you for coming with us on this wild ride!
