The head of our media team sent me an excited email. Here is what he shared:

[Start Email] We have had more Senior Campers assigned to Media this term than we have had all summer, and at first I was very nervous to give my precious cameras to them, but the photos they have brought back to us are INCREDIBLE! We also had such a large amount come back that we didn’t know what to do with! It was ALMOST too much for our two incredible photographers to handle. However, our Senior Campers stepped up and said they wanted to learn how to properly edit in order to help lighten the load. I couldn’t have said yes faster, and the outcome has been 400-600 more incredible photos added to our uploads each day. I’ve put their photos in a “Senior Camper Media Training” folder as a little bonus to parents, and will continue to do so through the term.

I can only speak on the SCATs, because they make up about 90% of the media team right now, but the way they care about their kids’ experience, and the success of each of the activity areas makes me really excited to see these girls as counselors next year.[End Email]

I believe you rarely get what you hope for, but you generally get what you expect. Sometimes, we expect too little from teens. Frankly, we are often happy if they make good grades and stay out of trouble.

But they are capable of more.

Perhaps more importantly, they want to do more.

As part of the Senior Camper program (our program for high school students), we give them opportunities to lead, to contribute and to teach. And, starting this summer, to bring images of camp to you.

When people suggest that they worry about the “next generation”, I like to tell them about these impressive teens. I am consistently delighted with their desire to impact each other and the younger campers.

We are blessed to have them.

Steve Sir