Accomplishing the Impossible

Kids need camp more than ever, and Fortune Lake has been given the opportunity to extend the camping experience beyond summer. Many U. P. schools have the tradition of offering 6th grade camp – an overnight, communal, outdoor education experience – to their students. The pandemic brought both Washington Middle School (Calumet-Laurium-Keweenaw) and Houghton Middle School to Fortune Lake for their long-standing school camps.  This fall we also welcomed our neighbors from Forest Park.

Due to a generous grant from the Forest Park Youth Fund of the Dickinson Area Community Foundation, Forest Park 7th graders were about to come to camp for 3 days. Traditional activities like saunaing and swimming, nature hikes, gaga ball, campfires, and skits were coupled with outdoor lessons with their teachers. Many of the students had never had an experience like this. As is often the case in 7th grade, peer groups were forming, and some students appeared to struggle to fit in, hanging on the fringes. Allowing everyone to feel included can seem impossible.

A community building activity called “blanket flip” presented a particular challenge. The activity is intended to seem impossible, yet it can be accomplished through perseverance, intentional teamwork and clear communication. Campers struggled, and one even threatened to run away! Eventually, all teams were able to accomplish the task, and we processed the activity to get to its practical application. Pausing to think, listening to one another, including everyone in the problem solving process, and considering outside-the-box ideas are all essential both in “blanket flip” and in life, especially when things seem impossible.

As the students were loading onto the bus on Friday afternoon, one who often hung on the fringes lamented about camp ending. He stated, “I wish we could come to school here every week and just go home on the weekends.” The fresh air and outdoor fun, the connections with teachers and peers, and the camp community had gotten to him.  His teachers will work to incorporate the important lessons – academic and social/emotional –  throughout the rest of the school year. For all these reasons and more, we need camp more than ever!