Soaking in CRC

A THANKS TO OUR PARENTS

I can actually still remember my very first Day at Chippewa Ranch Camp. It was a day very similar to the last of camp this summer. Rain, rain and then more rain. As much as I like to proclaim that “It never rains at Chippewa,” the truth can occasionally be quite the opposite up here! It rained so much on Thursday that I was drenched beyond the need to go inside for cover, that would just make me a completely soaked guy with a roof over his head. It was the same my first day in May of 2003. I remember looking around and thinking, what am I going to do

with 150 girls? To this very day I can’t say for certain whether or not i’ve discovered the answer to that (maybe never will), but alongside Lisa and Sari, I have seen Chippewa Ranch Camp develop into the vision that we have worked so hard to materialize. The bones have always been here (great property, beautiful lake, lots of buildings, rich with tradition, seven decades of history), but we came in with certain ideals and goals, and now from 30 thousand feet up I see a place that is not just a second home for so many campers, staff and alum, but it’s also a healthy sanctuary from a world filled with nothing but screens. It also serves as a brief escape from the truly unfortunate pressures found in “the real world” beyond our gates. I am not trying to sound overweening here, we will be the first to say that an open minded and incredibly impressive young staff has been the key ingredient to this feeling of pride that I was soaking in the other morning, but as I sat around one of our Friday night campfires this summer, I was absolutely taken back by the steady pulse of positive, heartfelt energy that filled our Center Fire Circle. Lisa has been developing each of our weekly campfire programs for years, but this summer I could almost visibly witness the words coming from the mouths of the speakers as they clearly penetrated the hearts of their captivated and curious audience. Critical work in action.

HOPEFULLY SHE SKINNED HER KNEE THIS SUMMER…

There are so many lessons to be learned at camp, and this summer was no exception to that rule. Taking on independence at camp means accepting that there will be lots of great success stories, but that there will also be some disappointment along the way. Oh… and likely not just once or twice I should add… A camp season is a bumpy road, and there is no guarantee that each bump will be easily dodged.

That very fact, however, I genuinely believe to be the best component OF summer camp. Our job is to help our campers grow into exceptional and responsible adults. This means kind, compassionate, resilient and independent thinkers. Those last two simply could not be achieved without the occasional hurdle to jump. Any camp community will inadvertently create manageable disappointment, this is the nature of the summer camp beast. The key though is having the tools to catch those bumpy moments when they arrive, actually see them as being valuable opportunities for growth, and finally to help the involved campers navigate through those challenging moments. Sometimes through discipline, and other times through mediated conflict resolution. Eventually (we hope) by using completely independent problem solving skills. Whatever the circumstance, there is no better place for this kind of growth. So I do say in the kindest and most heartfelt way- I hope that all of our daughters “skinned their knees” this summer. If they did, and if it happened here , then they got back up, pushed forward and grew stronger from that moment.

BEING A GOOD PERSON

Along with resilience, we also hope to teach our campers the importance of being great sports, of becoming more responsible in their decision making, of being more confident about overcoming their challenges and retaining their strong sense of integrity. There is a primer though beneath these great traits, and it has to be painted on with a double coat first. Lisa, Sari and I believe that there is nothing more important than simply being a kind and compassionate person. Of course all children possess those traits already (especially at a young age), but as they get older, the world around them begins to attack their core being. The little girl who always wanted to be a veterinarian stops noticing the animals around her; she used to stare in awe at the chipmunks hopping and sprinting through the trees, she used to smile with such enthusiasm at every puppy on the street. Oh, and don’t forget the girl who has become so lost in her cyber social existence that she’s forgotten to consider the way it feels to be talking to someone whose eyes are glued to a screen, rather than to those of the person with whom she is conversing. Know her? As parents, each moment of lost innocence can be a painful milestone for us, yet a simple rite of passage in

time for our girls. At five and seven we haven’t really seen the most significant of this with our own girls, but they have their versions of these moments too. So what do we do? We worry. Like all parents! How can we be sure to raise our daughters to be moral and kind (as our camp creed reminds us to do)? All of our daughters are certainly built to be just that, but we must keep them on course by consistently tugging at their brain strings, with the hopes of introducing a steady pulse of vibration directly into their heart strings. So this was the direction that we decided to point our compass this past summer: toward an emphasis on compassion and kindness. Traits they all possess, but that need to be exercised often in order to maintain the strength to fight off those spirit crushing moments, which also help shape who our children will become… at camp or wherever. Our job is to help your daughter to develop an even stronger constitution than she already has, and to show her how to develop upon that foundation, so to protect her instinct toward kindness and compassion. When a girl comes out on the other side of the Chippewa experience, we hope to have at minimum had a hand in developing her into a truly solid and kind woman, one with a built in sense of concern for others, and a genuine desire to help better those around her (even if it means putting their needs ahead of her own). This is what we should all want for ourselves, this is certainly what we want for our own girls, and this is what we will further help to cultivate in yours. This sort of effort defines our existence as a camp.

It is with the most sincere degree of gratitude that I thank you for giving us the opportunity to care for your daughter this summer. By now you hopefully know this, but Lisa and I have never (nor will we ever) take this responsibility lightly. It has been an absolute privilege spending time with and further getting to know your girl. We hope to have her back with us next summer!
While waving off the busses in that pouring rain the other day, I looked around and for a split second reconnected with my first summer at Chippewa – almost fifteen years ago. The rain, the smells and the sounds actually brought me back to that very first life changing afternoon (it’s amazing how much recollection fits inside a split second). I was literally soaking in pride. To close this I am going to have to go with an overused cliche word to describe this past summer. I have no choice because it’s the only one I can think of right now that truly mingles with the impossible. Too great to be true, but it was. Too perfect to have actually happened, but it did. That word- Magical. That it was. This will be an incredibly hard camp season to top, but I can’t wait to see 2017 try!

All best,
Cliff