Whadda Day! June 28, 2021
Today’s Whadda Day! features Cabin 0 before they departed for Shaver.
Read more about today’s friendship skill!
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Whadda Day! June 27, 2021
It’s the first day of Session 1, 2021! This is WHADDA DAY!
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Whadda Day! June 20, 2021
It’s the HAPPY FATHER’S DAY edition of Whadda Day, featuring some of the Shaver Watersports Specialty Campers!
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Whadda Day! June 13, 2021
It’s the first day of GAC 2021. Cabin 28 kicks off Whadda Day!
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Echo
Episode 64
Soy is joined by a woman who talked her mom into sending her to camp at age 6 and has been coming ever since! Echo came to camp on the shirttails of her older sister Nox and has learned everything from independence to how much she loves being unplugged in nature.
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Penguin
Episode 63.
Soy is joined on the POG-Cast by longtime camper and brand new staff member Penguin. She and Soy talk about the Junior Counselor program, what it’s like to have a sibling at camp, and how GAC has changed her life. Soy also delivers a really great home improvement-based Joke of the Day.
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Sunshine and Michael Thompson
Episode 61.
For this very special episode of the POG-Cast we were joined by long time parenting and camp guru Michael Thompson, Ph.D. to talk about independence, life success, raising children in the modern world, and how camp can help with all of that. Dr. Thompson is the author of Homesick and Happy, which we offer to send to all of our first-year camp families.
This interview was originally recorded for Sunshine’s podcast, the Sunshine Parenting Podcast. You can find all of Dr. Thompson’s books at michaelthompson-phd.com/books/
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Be You: Be your Best Self
BE YOU Week 10: Be your Best Self
“Create the highest, grandest vision possible for your life, because you become what you believe.”
-Oprah Winfrey
For many years we have heard both campers and staff say that camp is where they can be their most true, authentic selves. Being your true self is an important value and we want you to celebrate your differences and what makes you exactly who you are.
We want to encourage you to continue focusing on being your best self all year long. Depending on where you are in life, the focus might be something different. Let’s take a look back at our deeper questions from each week of our Be You series, to help you find an area that applies to where you are in life right now.
- Week 1: What do you like best about yourself?
- Week 2: What activities get you into “flow?”
- Week 3: What stresses you out? What calms you down?
- Week 4: What do you appreciate about others?
- Week 5: What can you do to build up a friend?
- Week 6: What are some positive things you say to yourself?
- Week 7: What makes you stand out from the crowd?
- Week 8: What is a tiny habit you can create for yourself?
- Week 9: How will you bring positive changes to the world?
- Week 10: What are you doing to be the best, most authentic version of you?
This Week’s #GACbeyou Challenge
Journal or share with someone else (can be a parent, sibling, or friend) your answer to this question:
What are you going to do to be the best, most authentic version of you? You can take something we talked about over the course of this series or you can find another area of your life that you want to focus on. By focusing on being your best self, you are going to be giving the world and those around you something special. Everyone and everything will benefit from who you are and what you have to share.
GACspiration
Want to be inspired? Print out this week’s GACspiration and post it on your bathroom door or mirror (just like at GAC)!
Activity Ideas
Assign a family member, friend, and yourself to each day of the week to be the focus of that day. For example, your mom could be assigned to Monday, assign yourself to Tuesday, your best friend can be Wednesday, your sister on Thursday, etc. Whoever is the focus of the day, make sure you are doing something to help them see the best version of themselves. By bringing out their best qualities, you are, in turn, bringing out yours!
We are so glad that you have joined us on this journey of discovering how to truly be you!
Resources
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BE YOU: Change the World
BE YOU Week 9: Change the World
“This world needs somebody like you.”
– Anthem Lights
At GAC, we believe in bringing positive changes to the world. In fact, it’s one of our core values that our campers and staff leave GAC ready to be leaders by bringing positive changes to the world.
There is a lot going on in the world today. We can choose to complain about what we don’t like about the world (what many adults do) OR we can take a small action ourselves to help bring a positive change.
What bothers you most about the world? What’s something you’d like to change or help fix? Instead of complaining about it, do some research about how YOU can contribute your time or skills to make a positive impact.
Change starts with one person believing in something and being willing to take action.
Adults need to stop asking kids, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” or “Where do you want to go to college?” Instead, let’s start asking, “How will YOU bring positive changes to the world?”
This Week’s #GACbeyou Challenge
Journal or share with someone else (can be a parent, sibling, or friend) your answer to this question:
How will you use your unique combination of strengths, skills, and interests to make this world a better place?
Examples of bringing positive change:
- Volunteering to tutor younger kids/ help them learn to read
- Cleaning up trash off of a beach or trail
- Recycling items instead of adding more to landfills
- Educating people about something that’s important to you
- Talking with your family and friends, submitting an op-ed article to your local newspaper, etc.
- Creating art of any kind that brings people happiness
- Music, funny videos, memes, paintings, quote graphics, etc.
Make a list of ways you will bring positive changes to the world and reflect back on them from time to time!
GACspiration
Want to be inspired? Print out this week’s GACspiration and post it on your bathroom door or mirror (just like at GAC)!
Activity Ideas
Create a world-changing calendar for yourself! At GAC, we have monthly kindness calendars and we want to encourage you to create monthly calendars with ways to bring positive changes to the world. Think of daily or weekly tasks where you can do something nice for a neighbor, your community, or a friend. Create the calendar and print it for easy viewing!
Resources
7 Ways You Can Change the World
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BE YOU: Get Stronger
BE YOU Week 8: Get Stronger
“The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.”
– Tony Robbins
There are many ways to get stronger. We get stronger physically by exercising or playing sports, but we can also get stronger mentally or emotionally by pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones. Sometimes we need to test the waters and see how our bodies and minds react to trying something new. We might start to climb the ladder at high ropes and realize that our heart is racing and our body is tensing. That’s okay. You tried and now you can create a goal to try again. Maybe next time you will push yourself to finish climbing the ladder. Then the next time you will push yourself to climb the ladder and stand at the top for ten minutes. While we are pushing ourselves physically, we are also pushing ourselves mentally. We are becoming mentally stronger knowing that we can trust our body and mind to accomplish great things.
At camp, we like to set goals. Whether you are a camper or a staff member, setting goals is important to the growth you experience during your time at camp. The goals you set for yourself help you push yourself outside of your comfort zone, and in turn, make you stronger emotionally, and maybe even physically. Sometimes our goal is to try a new physical activity, like high ropes or waterskiing, and sometimes it is to emotionally challenge ourselves, like learn three fun facts about a new friend.
This Week’s #GACbeyou Challenge
Journal or share with someone else (can be a parent, sibling, or friend) your answer to this question:
Small things that we commit to doing every day can make us stronger. We get in the habit of doing these things and they become easier and part of who we are. At GAC, we like to use BJ Fogg’s model of Tiny Habits. A tiny habit is something that is so small that if you do it over and over again you will get a changed outcome. Here is a way to create and accomplish your tiny habit:
1. Trigger: After I ______ (pick something you do regularly, like brushing your teeth or picking up your phone)
2. Tiny Habit: I will ______ (do three pushups, write a gratitude note, drink a glass of water, etc.)
3. Celebrate: AWESOME! (pick a celebratory act, like high-fiving yourself in the mirror or giving yourself a fist bump)
When you celebrate your changed behavior, your brain reacts in a positive way and wants that praise more, therefore you will want to keep doing that habit. Once your tiny habit has become easy or part of your everyday routine, you can adjust that habit to keep pushing yourself further.
GACspiration
Want to be inspired? Print out this week’s GACspiration and post it on your bathroom door or mirror (just like at GAC)!
Activity Ideas
Think of ways that you can get physically and mentally stronger that are outside of your comfort zone. What are some physical things that you can do to become stronger? Try to make a tiny habit out of one of those and push yourself to where you are more comfortable doing that activity. Now think of ways you can become mentally or emotionally stronger. Sometimes those physical and emotional actions will overlap. Over time, you will become stronger and more confident!
Resources
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