Top Features to Look for at Adventure Summer Camp
Do you remember what you loved best about summer camp when you were a teen? To me, summer camp evokes long days spent outside with a focus on the here and now. It was the chance to meet new friends and reconnect with old ones who’ve been out of touch, but you’re able to pick back up where you left off as if no time has passed at all. There were new activities to enjoy and games to learn with space for creativity, curiousity, and adventure.
Nowadays, there’s a summer camp for every interest. From space camp to dude ranching, there are tons of teen summer experiences and they’re all tailored to different things. Here at Bold Earth, we operate at the intersection of adventure travel and outdoor education. Our program is unique to who we are, what we believe in, and the kind of experience we believe all teens should get the chance to have. Here are a few of the top features that make our trips so special.
Fun is at our core
We believe in fun. It might sound obvious–summer camp is supposed to be fun! However, fun at Bold Earth is different from your run of the mill fun. One of the things we look for in trip leaders is their ability to create truly fun group experiences for our students. This can look like many things, but there’s always an aspect of spontaneity, creativity, and out-of-the-box ridiculous silliness that goes into it.
Fun reaches another level when it appears in unexpected places. Googly eyes and glowsticks might materialize from nowhere on day three of a river rafting trip. After a long, tiring day of hiking in the Colorado Rockies, a food fight after dinner could turn marshmallows and melting chocolate into face paint and projectiles. Teens are a in a life stage where having fun in a silly, unselfconscious way might be uncomfortable for them. That’s why our trip leaders work so hard to role model that being yourself is one of the best ways to have fun. Allowing ourselves to let the goofiness shine makes other people feel better about expressing themselves, too.
No matter what the objective, kindness wins
No matter what the objective, kindness wins
A large part of our program focuses on the activities we’ll get to do and the ways we’ll exercise our minds and bodies throughout the trip. We talk a lot about crafting adrenaline filled adventures and discovering new passions to pursue. While we love the games, sports, and recreational opportunities on every Bold Earth program, one of the most vital pieces of curriculum comes from our social interactions with each other. On every trip, there will be moments of friction between students. Coming together as a group can cause tension as students find their place within the social structure.
New friendships begin, opinions are formed, and judgements made. It’s at this moment in the trip when the real learning happens. Questions are asked of teens that even we, as adults, will continue to grapple with: How do we treat each other? How will we grow together? Who am I right now? Who do I want to become? The answer for us always starts with kindness. We want our students to be kind to themselves in times of difficulty. We ask that they bring kindness into their interactions with each other, too. If we lead with a kind heart and an open mind, the solution to our challenge is often within our grasp.
Resilience requires practice
On an adventure teen trip, the goal is not for the students to be good at everything they try. This can be hard to get used to, especially in a world where many of us feel pushed to perfectionism. When A+ is the only grade you’ve ever gotten, it can be shocking to fail at pitching a tent or cooking dinner for ten other people. Resilience comes from trying something new, messing it up, and being emotionally and physically flexible enough to recover and try again. This takes practice. It’s not easy for anyone, teen or adult. It’s something that many of us are continually working on ourselves, in the personal and professional worlds.
The point is, it’s important to start practicing. It doesn’t matter how many times we fail at something, especially when the task is challenging in nature. What matters more is how we react to that failure. Conventional metrics of success tell us failure is not an option. At Bold Earth, we beg to differ. Without failure to balance our achievements, we have no contrast. We’re missing out on half of the picture when we try to eliminate, avoid, and cover up our mistakes. Instead, we want to work to promote a culture of mistakes. Let’s move away from the shame associated with getting things wrong. That way we can learn how to fail and learn to do it better.
Experience-based judgement is what keeps us safe
Experience-based judgement is what keeps us safe
Safety is a pillar of our programs and fundamental to the way we make decisions. Working with teens, we’re acutely aware of the difference between healthy risk and unacceptable risk. The concept of risk is important to discuss because we promote the idea that our students should be able to challenge themselves with real-world experiences. We don’t want to present our students with a sanitized version of travel, adventure, and exploration. So how do we draw the line between learning opportunities and a dangerous situation? The answer is experience-based judgement. We’ve been operating since 1976 and carry almost 50 years of safety procedures, guiding philosophy, and professional expertise. We have the tools to keep our groups safe traveling around the world. Not only do we use these skills for our students–we also believe in teaching teens the foundations of risk management. Our students are active participants in the assessment and management of the risks we mitigate.
Be bold, be yourself
Whoever you are, wherever you come from, you are welcome here. Schedule a call with us to find your next Bold adventure!
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