Tag: Cole Kelly

Choice – A Weequahic Core Value

December 17th, 2010

Three or six weeks is really not a lot of time to impress life lessons into children (or staff for that matter). Therefore, we do our best to keep it simple at Weequahic. I’ve already written about gratitude as a core value. Today I’d like to touch on another of our core values: Choice.

While campers have a lot of choice in daily program at Weequahic, that is not the aspect of choice on which I mean. Rather, I’d like to focus on the more global meaning of the word.

Campers who attend a Friday night non-denominational service or just sit around for a chat with me will notice I often bring up the idea of choice. How do they choose to react to a situation? What are they choosing to say to themselves and to others?

Many young people don’t think about their choices, much less that they have control over them. I know didn’t really think about it until college. That is when I heard about William James and his very simple but profoundly important conclusion: We are the only ones who have control over our thoughts.

Simple, right? For anyone who has ever thought about it, it makes absolute sense. However, we rarely think about this most fundamental choice. Rather, we simply glide along reacting from habit or the way ‘crowd’ might expect.

A mentor of mine recently told a story of doctor who works with people with difficult injuries and afflictions. Rather than ask his patients “How are you feeling today?”, the doctor always asked “What are your plans for the day?” Do you see the difference?

The first question makes you react to your situation, whatever that may be. The patient would focus on their ailment or pain. The second question prompts the patient to think about the choices that lay ahead of them. It also reminds them that they are in control of those choices.

Seth Godin, one of my favorite thinkers and this year’s keynote speaker at the ACA Tri-State Conference, recently wrote about choices a person chooses to make. Choices, and their consequences, are even a mantra in the recent thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Choices abound in our incredible society. We are fortunate to have protected choices of religion, action, and thoughts. It’s vitally important that we think about these choices and there consequences and teach young people the power they have over their own choices.

So, what are your plans for the day?

Cole Kelly, Camp Director

A Whale of a Lesson

December 1st, 2010

Have you ever heard of Humphrey the Humpback Whale? Before our campers (and many of our staff) were born, Humphrey’s odyssey held our nation’s attention for many, many days.

Humphrey, as his name suggests, is a humpback whale. Getting turned around one day chasing plankton or following a misguided hunch, Humphrey found himself in San Francisco Bay. A few days later, he was in the Sacramento River. If you are trying to get to Sacramento, it’s a great plan. Just not it if you are whale.

Rescuers and researchers tried everything they could think of to stop Humphrey’s progress up the river. He escaped traps, ignored the pleading, and continued his meander up river all the while showing signs of physical distress and confusion. Thankfully, one researcher had a great idea.

With the help of the US Navy and a local boat owner, Dr. Bernie Krause started sending out whale calls through the water. (If you’ve not heard them, they are really interesting!) Within no time at all, Humphrey appeared. The astounded rescuers had called to Humphrey and he came to them!

Taking the boat with its whale calls down river, Dr. Krause and his team led Humphrey out to the San Francisco Bay and then to the Pacific. It was a great rescue that captivated the nation that actually advanced science. We found out it takes a whale to speak to another whale.

That’s a lesson camp teaches every day. In this age of video games and iPhones, PSP’s and tweets, we mustn’t forget one of our most basic requirements: It takes people to speak to other people.

Great camps surround children with great mentors and develop a community in which everyone is valued and cared for. At Weequahic, finding and training the best staff possible is, along with safety, our most important priority. The more interested, exciting, patient, and prepared a staff, the more likely it is for our campers to have an extraordinary experience. This, I might add, also provides the staff with an incredible experience as well!

If you know of someone interested in joining a community of people who want to provide an extraordinary experience for campers, please ask them to apply here. We’d be thrilled to speak with them!

Hat tip to Chuck Hodges (and Humphrey) for the story.

Cole Kelly, Camp Director

Gratitude – A Weequahic Core Value

November 24th, 2010

It certainly is a good time to thinking about gratitude. Two days before Thanksgiving, we are now planning our trip to the grandparent’s house, making our list of yearly ‘thankfuls’, and looking forward to spending some extra time with those most important to us. Thankfully, even the media gets into the action as well.

I just finished a great article on gratitude which you can find here. Kate and I always felt feelings of gratitude lead to a happier, more productive life. It’s nice to see science catching up with us!

Gratitude is so important that I end each day with our boys at camp asking them about their two favorite things from that day. Our Head Counselor or Kate does the same on the girl’s side. We center our first campfire around gratitude. (Here is a great poem I’ve found for the occasion.) We also have a longstanding tradition of our sport teams thanking their coaches, refs, and drivers in front of the whole camp, win, lose, or draw.

Researchers believe feelings of gratitude are 50% genetic. The remainder is learned. We focus on teaching our campers to be thankful for their many blessings (and make it fun in the process!)

At this thankful time of year, I challenge each of you to make a list of people and experiences for which you are grateful. Happiness is colored most effectively and durably from these two categories. Further, I challenge you to start your own gratefulness habit: Each evening, before you fall asleep, find two things you are happy about from the day. Write them down or say them out loud. It’s a great way to end the day.

As for Weequahic, we are thankful for:

  • The vision of our founder, Art Lustig, in creating the traditions of Weequahic
  • The work of the Lustig and Seffer families for shepherding and adding to these traditions along the path
  • The incredible staff with whom we have the pleasure of working during the summer and throughout the year
  • Our supportive and thoughtful families who share their children with our community each summer, and
  • Campers from around the country and world who bring energy, excitement, friendship, and joy to us each and every day

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone!

Cole Kelly, Camp Director