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.

I hope you and your families are well. I am reaching out to congratulate you. For years you have sent your camper to Stomping Ground and this summer they are on staff. Congrats because the kid you raised is powerful and I know they are ready to make a real impact this summer.

The students who came to camp have been through hell this past year and beyond. Let’s be real. The pandemic devastated families, especially Black and Brown families, the education system, and exacerbated preexisting racial tensions and issues in Rochester. These kids have been on the frontlines of this devastation and have experienced trauma in ways I will never be able to relate to or maybe even understand. But what we know at Stomping Ground is that to practice radical empathy we do not have to have been through the same hard stuff to relate to or connect with one another.

Here are some of the questions I hear most frequently from parents, and how we answer them at Stomping Ground. The three main categories that I will dive into below: food, homesickness, and how we welcome new campers into our community.