When your campers look back upon this summer, they’ll think of their friends, their counselors, and the FUN they had at summer camp. They spent their days swimming, playing in the gaga pit, building robots, creating arts and crafts, and building skills through sports – what could be better? While having a total blast, they also learned valuable life lessons and character virtues to bring into this school year.

1. Resiliency

This summer, Senior Campers harnessed up and faced the rock wall like they’ll face any challenge this year – head on and one step at a time. Some zoomed to the top, while others needed more support and encouragement to make it a few feet off the ground. Their friends at the bottom cheered them on as they scouted different paths to the summit and recovered from obstacles in their way. Resiliency will give your children the know-how to find creative ways to move forward when faced with a challenge this year.

2. Self-Confidence

Day Campers took center stage this summer in the Camp Show – literally – as they shined in the spotlight while showing off their talents to family and friends. They discovered a strong sense of self and took pride in their accomplishment as the camp community applauded their efforts. This confidence will encourage them to raise their hands more often, take healthy risks, ask questions, and be more engaged in their learning process.

3. Trust

After activities in the hot summer sun, your campers cooled off by splashing around in the pool. As the summer went on, those splashes turned into more refined skills as your children developed into confident swimmers. Campers stayed positive as they progressed through various skill levels because they knew they were always safe with our Red Cross certified Aquatics Team. They pushed themselves past their comfort zones because they had faith in the people in charge of guiding their learning. They will extend that trust to their teachers this school year.

4. Respect

Over the summer, your campers made sure to show respect for others, respect for themselves and respect for their environment. Among so many other things, that meant treating their camp-mates the way they wanted to be treated, developing a sense of self-confidence, taking pride in their endeavors and accomplishments, and keeping their environments clean. In today’s busy world, having respect for others and self opens the door to being able to grow as an individual and create strong communities. When they enter the classroom this year, they’ll bring that respect to everyone and everything they interact with.

5. Real-World Applications

After a summer of performing on stage, examining bugs under microscopes, planting in the camp gardens, creating business plans, and coding robots to move through an obstacle course, your campers saw that the lessons they learned had real-world applications in creative expression, scientific exploration, entrepreneurial endeavors, and adventures in technology. This year they’ll head into the classroom excited to learn and apply these lessons to their own lives!

6. Teamwork

Drills and scrimmages helped your Sports Campers hone their athletic skills, but the real lessons manifested outside the game. As they practiced communication and cooperation on the field, they learned to treat everyone like a teammate. They helped each other, encouraged each other and welcomed every new athlete onto the team. In one of the best examples from this summer, a Sports Camper couldn’t open his snack, and when the package finally ripped open, it spilled all over the field. Without a word, his teammate placed half of his goldfish into his hand and kept on with the conversation. It’s this compassion, leadership, and kindness that campers will bring with them to the classroom, the lunch room, and their friendships.

7. Leadership

Whether they were a Scout in Day Camp, Captain in Sports Camp or Ambassador in Senior Camp, campers were entrusted with unique responsibilities at camp. They performed important responsibilities, from making sure new campers felt welcomed on their first day, to something as simple as holding the door open for their group. True they learned true leadership lessons on a daily basis, which will carry over into the school year and give campers the confidence to pursue student leadership roles within their school communities.

8. Gratitude

Your children left their ESF Summer Camp experience able to recognize and express thanks for the wonderful things in their lives. They developed abundant gratitude for the opportunities they had this summer. Gratitude is a practice. We hope that campers will continue to GO BIG and exercise an attitude of gratitude in all they do throughout the year.

And to think – they learned it all at summer camp!