Nature Camp Reflections
Sam Cummings looks back on a first summer as director of Blackwood Nature Camp: capture the flag in the forest, real conversations at the lunch table, and the two things that make camp here unlike anywhere else.
By Sam Cummings
When I take the time to dig up all the little memories and moments from camp this summer, there is quite a lot that is revealed. Every camper, counselor, and counselor-in-training contributed to each week’s mosaic with their own color, and the resulting image was something special.
What is it like to be the camp director at Blackwood Nature Camp? Here are a few images: it’s running through the forest with my tribe, searching for flags without being spotted by the enemy team; it’s when a conversation at the lunch table turns in a direction where you get to see a bit of a camper’s genuine person; and it’s when the counselors tell me that a camper who didn’t know anyone at the start of the week is joining into the camp community and having a magnificent time exploring the forest and gaining confidence in him or herself.
But what is it that makes camp at Blackwood so unique? As a newcomer, I had been asking myself this question since my first conversation with a long-time camper in February. After this summer, I would say there are two things:
The land itself. Blackwood is full of beauty that anyone can enter into. It’s the experience of going deep into a forest. For kids, it’s a transport into another realm; for adults, it’s a refreshing switch into the type of world that we so seldom experience in our daily lives. It’s a sense of wonder.
The culture of Blackwood. This is something I have only been able to surmise as a newcomer, but it has been a wonderful thing to behold. There is a deep care and consciousness in all of the campers and staff. It is the strongest in the older ones, and it trickles down to the younger ones. There is a gratitude for this place and for all those who are there concurrently. There is a sense that they are simply happy to be partakers here, and they want to care for all those who are there experiencing it with them.
I knew this job would entail a lot of work and responsibility, with also many rewards. But experiencing it at Blackwood has been a unique reward in itself. My biggest gift has been the joy of creating an environment for young campers to experience nature for themselves in a way they never could elsewhere.
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