The Importance of Establishing Roots at Camp

Why Committing to Pemi Over Time is Beneficial to Your Child

The Pemi experience provides incredible growth opportunities for boys, from developing skills in independence and decision making to cultivating friendships and practicing resiliency. The benefits of attending camp can be seen after a single session: a boy might feel more confident about spending the night away from home, encourage a family hike, or be willing to try new foods. While a single experience is impactful, the deepest personal growth –  and a camper’s ability to recognize that growth in himself – requires a camper to establish roots in our consistent camp environment over time.

Roots for Learning: A child’s development thrives when in a familiar and predictable space. Instead of using energy and focus to adapt to a new environment, with new rules, people and expectations, the returning Pemi camper transitions back to camp with a comfort that accelerates growth and learning. He jumps back into previously set goals and picks up with friendships from past summers. Returning campers also have the benefit of receiving instruction, support, and validation from returning staff members who already know their personalities and ambitions. Pemi is fortunate to have 70% of staff return summer after summer. The familiarity and comfort of these established relationships help a camper identify progress and set appropriately ambitious goals for each summer and for the duration of a Pemi career. 

Roots in Community: Establishing an enduring summer community provides children the gift of a reliable and predictable environment, outside of home. Time spent with old friends and mentors, along with a stable routine and familiar setting, allows all children to feel a deep sense of belonging and worth. Additionally, families often cue into this benefit when there are unexpected or difficult transitions outside of camp: navigating grief and loss, a transition in schools, or a change in family dynamic. Parents and campers alike find comfort in the known quantity of returning to camp when other environments feel less predictable. Providing the certainty of Pemi and its community year after year allows for campers to generate an extended network that shows up for them in challenging times, in everyday moments, and long into their future.   

Roots in Friendships: Returning to Pemi compounds a boy’s ability to learn key social skills within the camp community. Friendships made at camp are free from distractions, technology or school-based drama. Camp friendships are deeply authentic, as campers see one another through moments of emotional vulnerability or shared accomplishments. These connections are diverse in big and small ways, stretching campers to extend their relationships to peers with differing interests or backgrounds. Ultimately, friendships at camp become a primary support during their time away from family, increasing the quality and intensity of bonds between campers and establishing a foundation for life-long connections.

Roots in Self-Confidence: Multiple summers in the same environment allow campers to develop skills in autonomy, leadership and a sense of pride that increase their self-confidence. For example, a camper experiences confidence in his ability to manage the highs and lows of living away from home. While that first summer gives the camper the sense of accomplishment gained by reaching the other side of homesickness, the second, third, and fourth summers let him develop leadership skills as he shows new campers how to overcome this challenge, in turn realizing his own capacity for mentorship. Similarly, campers draw on prior summer’s experiences as they set goals that simply cannot be completed in one summer. Whether progressing through the ranks in a particular activity or climbing the camp’s leadership hierarchy, campers build up a sense of self-worth and accomplishment through repeated summers in their community. The social-emotional benefits and security from this sense of belonging and self-worth carry forth back home and into the school year.

Roots For launching: When grounded in a community, long standing friendships, and a security with yourself and your abilities, older campers are in a position where they are ready to launch into being mentors to younger campers, and more prepared for young adult life away from home. These seasoned campers are ready to transfer their skills to spaces outside of camp. The ups and downs, triumphs and challenges that come over years spent at Pemi directly prepare campers for similar times in a new high school, away at college, and navigating living on their own. They have the independence to thrive on their own and the empathy to help others do the same. The cumulative benefits of the Pemi camp experience lead to young adults who know they can overcome challenges, have the social skills to thrive amongst people from different backgrounds, feel comfortable expressing their emotions and supporting their friends, and confidently take on new settings and tasks.