Letters To The Headmaster

Okie, here's a letter I wrote to Grace and Taber with my thoughts on camp. I thought it'd be a good idea to put it up on wiki. You can put letters that you've sent here, or general commentary on camp.

Dear Grace and Taber,

This year at camp was my third and last year as a camper, and it was quite rewarding in many different ways. I've thought about camp long and hard since then, as well as having discussions with other campers. There were things about camp I didn't like, and things I thought worked especially well. I wanted to fill out the evaluation forms on the last day, but I was too distracted and didn't have much time to really think about what my answers would be. But anyway.

My main problem with camp this year, I've found, is how little time I had to myself. I remember in '99, and other campers remember before then, how I was able to have long and involved discussions with other campers, brainstorm, sleep (the sleep workshops were a great idea that I think should be brought back), be inspired or just hang around. I did get to know a lot of people this year, but there were many spaces of time both during the day and during the evening that were taken up by structured activities that interfered with that time.

I was talking with some other campers and someone pointed out that maybe you guys wanted to make camp perfect, and being a perfectionist myself I can totally understand that. So you've taken spontanious ideas from yourself and campers and made them structured... the problem is that great big beautiful inspiring things at camp cannot be planned, and a certain spark will be taken out of them if they are. You see groups of campers hanging around and think nothing is happening, and time is being wasted, but I can attest personally that just being together and talking is just as amazing as teaching workshops or having a talent show. And I think this should be encouraged... you should hang out and talk with us, too! After all, you're a part of camp as well.

One of these structured activities that I have a problem with is the prom. I think it was meant to be somewhat of a humourous thing, the idea of a high school prom without the high school, but I don't see it working well at all. I came because I wanted to dress up, as did many people, and it was wonderful to see the energy put into costumes... so much creativity! However, as the prom drew on, I found myself getting bored, mainly because of the repetitive music and the atmosphere of waiting for something creative and interesting to happen (which never did) In a very short time, most campers had left the prom to go talk around the fire pit, or go to bed. Becky commented to me that she spent more time in the anticipation of the event than actually being there, which is pretty much the way I feel. It just doesn't work.

Here's what I think. We should take out the prom, and keep the live music jams every evening. Campers can dress up for the music jams some already do, I believe and have the fun of dancing and hanging around (not to mention GOOD music from our local talented group) without the pressure that the prom seems to put on.

Another thing I have a problem with is how long the meetings are, including advisory meetings. I definitely think the meetings are a good idea in such a large group, and there are things that need to be said and gone over, but it seems that you give some things more energy than they deserve. For instance, we only need one song a meeting, instead of three, and reminders to clean up can be a few consise sentances instead of one big tangent. Take it from a minimalist ;)

Half-hour advisory meetings every morning is a good amount of time, and I think the extra time at the beginning is also a good idea. But really, two hours of advisory time on the last day is too much!! Campers need this time to relax and talk to people they haven't talked to, tie up loose ends or go read a book. If you want extra advisory time at the end, limit it to an hour. Also, I think you should make it clear that the games in advisory groups aren't mandantory; I thought they were until I was told otherwise after camp. So I participated in the games, but I did it to make Nathan (who is a wonderful person and good advisor) feel at ease, not because I wanted to.

For someone who protested it before camp, I actually really liked the encouragment to get more sleep. What I DIDN'T like was having to write "sleep goals" down in the advisory group. I thought it was manipulative; it only made me feel defensive and mistrusted. I don't feel like I have to prove myself to you. I know, especially at eighteen years old, that I can take care of myself and other people without being prodded into it.

More on the sleep thing. I think it's wonderful that we all got more sleep at camp, I know it helped me stay balanced a lot. But, despite this, i still got sick. I think there are other things that you have to factor in, when you're dealing with sickness at camp. For me, it was the temperature change. I left New Haven, Connecticut, and it was hot and humid for the whole summer. When I got to camp, the chilliness (especially at night) really lowered my immune system, and made it easy to get sick... even with all the extra stuff I'd been doing to take care of myself.

I love love LOVE the talent shows. I think they're a real high point of camp, especially this year, and I'm sure they'll be even better as time goes by. But I found them dragging on for a long time every night, and although they were mesmerizing I found myself acutely uncomfortable after sitting still for so long. I think it was a good idea to limit people from going more than once, otherwise it would have been a lot longer, but maybe take it a step further next year and limit the number of people that can act in a night? I'd like to see it cut to an hour, and hour and a half at the most. I hope that doesn't sound harsh, but that's the way I feel.

Okie dokie, enough bitching for now. I'm going to tell you what I really liked about camp this year.

Not only the encouragment to get enough sleep, but I was delighted to see you following all the way through with battling sickness. The plentiful tea, the good food to snack on between meals (it was so nice to be hungry between meals and be able to eat peanut-butter sandwiches!), having everyone sharing echinacia and vitamins, having "wellness mamas" on hand... this felt really positive to me, so that not only did I get over my cold sooner than I did last year, but I didn't feel so alone when I was sick.

I also loved the food! This year was the best in meals, I liked almost everything. And for a cheese fanatic like me, having it with every meal was a real treat! *smile* The cooking was fantastic, and creative, and there was so much to choose from. Yay!

A later getting-up time, good idea. As opposed to the years before, I didn't feel like a wet rag being dragged out of bed, I could take my time this year, and it was warmer outside so I didn't have to freeze. Having a later everything is generally a good idea. As well, I really like having well-being time right after lunch, it's just perfect for me. The workshop times also work very well.

I think chores were arranged pretty well, but I would like to see more of an effort to tell campers exactly what they should be doing and when. Maybe advisors could have a list on hand and remind the group (Nathan did this, as I can recall, and it helped), or at least remind their groups to check the chore list after the meeting.

A lot of staffers hung around campers this year, talking with us and just being themselves. I thought that was really great, and I want to see it encouraged even more.

Nightly live-music jams... hell yes! One of the best ideas of camp, with a good balance between organization and creative spontainaity, a chance for music/dance inclined campers to show their talents in another arena besides the talent show. Keep it up.

A few notes:

In recent years it seems that more campers are disregarding rules, or just doing stuff like not cleaning up after themselves. I think this is an unconcious protest to being mistrusted and herded around. I know you don't mean to, you just want things to go smoothly, but you're going to have to let up and trust us to do the right thing. Try to remember what you did in the early years. Otherwise, you're going to get more frustrated and campers are going to feel manipulated and the situation will only get worse. One or two good reminders a day should be good; no need to plead or threaten. That's what schools do, yes?

Encourage creativity and spontaniaty. Remember what comes of it Marina's paper cranes, for instance!

Scholerships. I'd like to see more half-price scholerships rather than having more campers pay $450 and having some go to camp for free. That seems very disproportionate to me, and happy mediums are good.

Relax, enjoy yourself, let the energy flow at camp. This is a good thing, so don't meddle more than you need to. Unschoolers will never be perfect, you know, so just enjoy us as we are and get creative and inspired yourself!

Thank you for listening to me, reading this long rambly letter, and remember that I'm only critizing because I care about camp so much, and I want to do my part to keep it as wonderful as it is. Unfortunately, I won't be coming back to camp next year, because I'll be away travelling; believe me, I'll miss everyone there! Thank you so much for putting this effort into camp, it's done a lot for me.

 Love
 Eireann Young

ps. You should visit our unschoolers haven! www.nbtsc.org/wiki