https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/leadership-transition-what-i-learned-my-first-year-camp-director
Leadership Transition: What I Learned in My First Year as a Camp DirectorLast November I had the pleasure of sharing a long car ride with Dr. Michael Thompson, during which he gave me a fun idea. We were on the way to Houston for a presentation he was giving about the...
https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/moving-mainstreaming-outsourcing-what-everyone-can-learn-working-different-needs
Moving from Mainstreaming to Outsourcing: What Everyone Can Learn from Working with Different NeedsI run two different camps for kids with different needs, including a resident camp for kids with autism. A concerned parent called to talk about how she wanted her son to be “mainstreamed” in the...
https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/restoring-human-touch
Restoring the Human TouchWe've all seen them — gaggles of teens walking together, each with their eyes glued to the screens of their smartphones, texting, tweeting, and posting. Or that couple in the restaurant with their...
https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/pedagogically-speaking-part-1-how-schools-talk-about-what-camps-do
Pedagogically Speaking - Part 1: How Schools Talk about What Camps DoClinging to the position that camp is different and unique will isolate us unless we can speak intelligently about how camp is an essential complement to what young people do for the other ten or 11...
https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/rosies-girls-changing-story-girls
Rosie's Girls: Changing the Story for GirlsMy tenth-grade history student addressed me tentatively in response to a classroom question. "Ms. Bluemle, I may be totally wrong, but . . . " I could barely focus on the rest of her sentence, as I...
https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/alive-well-case-camp-letter
Alive and Well: The Case for the Camp LetterIn this era of tweeting and texting, the slow-moving, handwritten, paper letter is an endangered species. Unlike an electronic missive, the letter that arrives in an envelope can be touched, smelled...
https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/beautiful-boys-addiction-recovery-what-they-learned-summer-camp
Beautiful Boys: Addiction, Recovery, and What They Learned at Summer CampAddiction, recovery, and summer camp — four words that don't often appear together. Nevertheless, addictions of all kinds, perhaps especially to alcohol and other drugs, remain hugely problematic at...
https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/time-our-lives-how-summer-camp-tames-transition-trouble
The Time of Our Lives: How Summer Camp Tames Transition TroubleIt is a common refrain that the college years best represent "the time of our lives," replete with newfound independence and denoting fulfillment of academic, social, emotional, and workforce...
https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/children-need-play-can-they-get-it-camp
Children Need Play: Can They Get It at Camp?When I was a child, in the 1950s, children were far freer than they are today. By the time I was five, I could go anywhere in town, on foot or bicycle, without adult accompaniment. My family moved...
https://www.acacamps.org/article/camping-magazine/architecture-culture-kindness
The Architecture of a Culture of KindnessEden Village Camp, the Jewish farm-to-table sleepaway camp in Putnam Valley, New York, has an unusual business plan: to "be the camp we wish to see," borrowing from Ghandi's quote encouraging us to "...