Camp IVEY Day 4: Creating Confidence

It’s day 4 here at Camp IVEY, and we are still going strong! We are all such good friends now and have had many adventures together so far. With all this under our belts, we are tackling even more daunting challenges during camp! Today, our word is confidence, and it is so fitting because with our friends by our side, we can be confident in any new ventures we try. On day 4, we began our day outside playing parachute games, and as we are more comfortable with each other we take turns leading in Simon Says as we laugh and joke together. From there our morning activities moved into something else new as we took a creative movement class as a big group.  For some it was definitely outside of our comfort zones, but we all learned to express ourselves in a different way than before.

Our confidence doesn’t come from being better than anyone else around us, but it comes from the support and acceptance from our friends.  As our friends cheer us on and believe in us even before we believe in ourselves, we find it within ourselves to try new things, even the scarier ones. This afternoon we had some of our more scary obstacles ahead of us in the form of a rock wall, bungee trampoline, and water slide.  From some, it came easily with no fear at all, but for others of us, it took all the courage we could muster to strap into a harness and leave the ground.  For those of us with fears about these new things, our friends stood beside us, held our hands, reassured us that no matter what we were the brave ones, and cheered for us in all our attempts.

With all this support behind us, so many of us saw for maybe the first time that we were great and brave and strong. We found ourselves to be confident, and we stepped out into new waters.  Whether we ventured 2 feet off the ground or 20, we claimed our success and triumphed over the doubts and fears! From there, we jumped at the opportunity to try again and again, and we high-fived over goals met and challenges won.

Today we climbed, flipped, dove, and soared. We didn’t find out that being the very best at any activity gave us some superior form of pride, but instead, we found that we could do more than we ever thought possible, and that faith that others had in us caused us to see within ourselves and find our purest confidence. As we go forward into our last day of adventures tomorrow, we will take this confidence with us to those adventures and further still. Beyond camp days, these memories will serve to remind us of what we can accomplish, and who we have supporting us on the journey. We are so proud of each and every one of you today, and we cannot wait for the adventures to come!!

Camp IVEY Day 3: A Journey of Joy

Today was Day 3 at Camp IVEY, and our word of the day was joy! Joy may have been the word that was the focus of today, but this entire journey from the planning stages until now has been filled to the top with joy. Each day this week has just been a complete overflow of that. What exactly do we mean by joy? Joy, beyond just a state of happiness that changes when the circumstances change, but a determined choice to face whatever life throws at you each day with resilience. If there is one quality that our campers embody more than any other, in my opinion, it would be this one.

This morning, as we sang songs together, more and more campers joined in than in the past 2 days and sang louder and danced more freely than before. Then we traveled down to the fields where we got to spend time with some horses, go fishing and kayaking, and play games. Our campers jumped into all kinds of activities today armed with smiling enthusiasm throughout the whole thing. It has been 3 long and full days of camp trekking around in this crazy July heat, and our campers are handling it like champs and grinning all the way.

This joy we see and experience on a daily basis is infectious. Our counselors feel it, and our joy flows out into our friends and to all the staff here. This afternoon, we got to play with the parachute together, working with our friends to accomplish different goals. As we did silly activities like trying to keep a beach ball from touching the ground as long as we could, we laughed until our sides hurt at getting the ball stuck in a tree or missing it over our heads. Here at camp, as we sat on the ground painting a mural together, there is only joy as we express ourselves however we want.

As we wrapped up today’s activities, we gave each camper an opportunity to share their favorites. To talk about friends we’ve made, successes we’ve had, and goals we’ve reached.   As we shared, campers and counselors alike, we found that we have taken delight in so many things in just 3 days! For each person, it was something a little different, and we didn’t all find joy in just one activity or project. However, amongst all of us, we found joy from the littlest things, like having yogurt for snack, all the way to the big goals we’ve accomplished! I hope you will share in this spirit of joy with us today from hearing our stories and seeing our pictures, and we will see you bright and early tomorrow!!

“There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” -C.S. Lewis

 

Camp IVEY Day 2: Forming Friendships

“I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen” -Winnie the Pooh

Today was Day 2 here at Camp IVEY, and this morning we dove right into activity. Everyone arrived a little louder, a little bolder, and camp was suddenly so much more of a “home-space” than it was yesterday.  In this space, our campers branch outside themselves, and reach out to experience not only new activities, but also to have these experiences with new people.  This morning, as our campers teamed up in games against our counselors, they worked together in different ways, learning about one another and finding many things in common with each other. From there, they had the opportunity to do some karate, which was new to most, but together, they could tackle this challenge. By the end, the air was filled with shouts and laughter, as we cheered on our friends in their previously undiscovered talents.

From there, our day was full of swimming, kayaking, and gardening activities. We explored and created, hand-in-hand, all the way. We built fairy and leprechaun gardens, creating stories for our gardens to share. When the time came to share, each camper stepped up to show their own creative process and found that they were met with nothing but encouragement and love. Everyone had a voice, and each friend was heard as we ventured from session to session. Our new friends listened to us, learned with us, and even taught us a thing or two. In just two days, we’ve made a foundation of something much bigger, building our support system, so we don’t have to go it alone.

At Camp IVEY, we find not only ourselves, but help others discover their unique strengths and talents, lifting them up as they lift us up in return. This friendship we’re building isn’t just until Saturday. Our camp friends can be friends for life, and can give us the confidence to make new friends later in other new situations too! We are more than just lone adventurers, we are co-adventurers discovering together how exceptional we can truly be. We absolutely cannot wait to see what else the week holds!

“Any day spent with you is my new favorite day. So, today is my new favorite day.”               -Winnie the Pooh 

Camp IVEY Day 1: The Art of Independence

“You need to be content with small steps. That’s all life is. Small steps that you take every day so when you look back down the road it all adds up and you know you covered some distance.”          -Katie Kacvinsky

Day 1 of camp is always filled with this nervous and excited energy. We can never be sure how the day is going to go, and day 1 can set the tone of a week at camp.  In this new environment, it can be intimidating to find your place amongst this sea of new people, and all while navigating activities we’ve never done before. This morning at Camp IVEY, our bus rolled up full of smiling faces, and we were off! We started our day meeting new friends and singing together with Camp Lakeside during Circle Time. From there, we went straight down to the lakefront to grab our first swim in the lake and had a scavenger hunt all around the camp to learn all about the places where we would be having activities all week. During this morning time, it was our campers’ first opportunity experience what camp activities would be like having some time away from mom and dad. At first, it took some time to draw some campers out of shells, while others were jumping to do anything and everything all by themselves.

Throughout the day, as we went from pottery to tie-dye to sidewalk paint, our campers went from being hesitant to join an activity, to thinking of all new ways to participate and asking for clay, tools, and paints to express themselves in new and different ways. We made messes and masterpieces. We sang and danced and discovered.  Getting to know new friends and learning things about ourselves that surpassed our previous knowledge. Stepping outside of our comfortable bubble to try things we thought we wouldn’t like but in the end, loving it. We were here just a day, and already, the seeds of independence that have been planted are beginning to sprout. Independence was the theme for today, but it doesn’t stop here. It comes home with us in each new thing we try and every time we say yes to something new and uncertain.

Armed with our independent spirits, we are thinking of goals for this week and learning that we are our own superheroes! As we dive headfirst into the rest of camp, we look forward to new adventures, friendships, and memories to be made. This week, our hope is that your camper comes home bubbling with stories of fun and success, ready to take on the next day. Have a great night, and we are SO ready to see you in the morning!

 

 

A letter to parents

 

Dear Parents of very exceptional youth,

Thank you for trusting us with your most precious people. We are aware of this great responsibility and are grateful to you for sharing your whole world with us this week. At Camp IVEY, we have been counting down the days with excitement and anticipation, and it’s almost here! You should know, here at camp, we already think your kids are incredible! We look forward to becoming their friends and co-adventurers during this next week as we embark on this new camp adventure together. When going off to camp, the anxious, nervous energy at first is all part of the territory. During this week, we will be trying new things, making new friends, and venturing out of our comfort zones. This is certainly a little daunting, but we believe that by working together, we can create opportunities for growth and success. This week, your children will have a chance to experience independence in a new way through games, crafts, and outdoor activities. Hopefully by the end, they will learn a thing or two that they didn’t know before. Camp IVEY is a place of discovery, and it is our goal that your children will discover confidence within themselves to accomplish even more than before. As you pack your bags and get ready to put your children on the Camp IVEY bus each morning, you should know that the smiling faces on the bus and waiting at Camp Lakeside will take care of your campers and send them home each day with many stories to tell. So as this week wraps up, and the week of camp comes rushing towards us, talk to your camper about the new adventures and friends that await them here, and we will see you Sunday!!

-Your Camp IVEY Counselors

Counting down to Camp

A few weeks ago on a Saturday morning, the Camp IVEY volunteers met all together for the first time to prepare for a brand new camp that would be here in July.  It’s always interesting to walk into a situation with people you don’t know and even more interesting when you aren’t quite sure what to expect. You may have a good grasp of why you are there, but you don’t know exactly what the day will hold, and you don’t know what brings the people around you to this same place.  We come from different backgrounds, some with years and years of camp experience, some for whom this would be their first camp. Some of us have been working with children with specials needs for as long as we can remember, while others were in a new element. Even so, we all ended up here to learn and tackle a whole new adventure.

As it usually tends to go in a room full of people that have just met for the first time, there’s an underlying awkwardness as we each try to navigate this whole new situation of an entirely new camp with these completely new people. Whew. It’s a lot happening to say the least. So here’s goes nothing: We jump straight into introductions and team building, and sooner or later, we are all just people standing in this gym, doing ridiculous tasks while working together. Throughout it all, we were able to get to know each other, even if it is just a little bit so far. As we got beyond ourselves and our awkward “newness”, we found these common threads in the paths that brought us to Camp IVEY. So, as we worked through games and tasks that seemed a little silly, these threads began to bind us together as a team with a common passion and a clear goal: to provide our group of campers with a week filled with independence, joy, and fun!

Well, the weekend was just getting started, and as we continued on with training, we heard from several experts about how incredible our campers are. The more we talked, the more our hearts swelled with excitement and anticipation for July 25^th. We had the opportunity to tour the location of our camp out at Camp Lakeside; just walking around this beautiful place, the entire picture began to come into focus. Somewhere between the talk of logistics, the awkward introductions, and the overview of safety measures, the week of camp became very real.  We were walking along the same paths that we would take in a just few weeks with our campers.  We were talking and joking as we planned out what our days might look like here. We were laughing while learning, and in those moments, this entirely amazing idea that was born a few years ago was truly coming together to make one week of summer the best summer ever for our campers.

So here we all are, ready for camp, filled with anticipation and counting the days until our days are filled with camp songs, arts and crafts, and so many new friends!