Session 2 Outpost & Events Schedule
There’s always something going on at camp, whether that’s a cabin theme day, a backpacking trip or a visit to Shaver Island! Check out the outpost schedule below to see where each cabin is going this session.
July Kindness Calendar
July 16th is Camp Kindness Day, so we are getting you ready with our July Kindness Calendar! We encourage you to show kindness to someone every day and we came up with a few ways to help you do that! Click here to download the printable version.
Session 1 Outpost & Events Schedule
There’s always something going on at camp, whether that’s Jers-day Thursday, a backpacking trip or a visit to Shaver Island! Check out the outpost schedule below to see where each cabin is going this session.
Session 1 Plus – Shaver Week Has Begun!
Yesterday, we welcomed an awesome group of campers for Session 1+, which starts with a week at our Shaver Island Outpost camp. Among this group of campers, there are ten 6-year campers, two 5-year campers, and one 10-year camper. Four campers are from outside of California.
They’re going to enjoy an action-packed week of waterskiing, wakeboarding, and kneeboarding on our island outpost in the middle of Shaver Lake. They will get to sleep under the stars after spending fun-filled days on the lake! How lucky they are!
Want to learn more about June Specialty? Click here.
June Kindness Calendar
Happy June and the start of GAC 2024! Here are some great ideas of how we can be kind to others this month. Enjoy! You can download a printable version here!
May Kindness Calendar
Hello everyone! It’s a new month so that means new opportunities to show kindness to those around us! Click here to download the printable version.
April Kindness Calendar
Take a look at our April Kindness Calendar to spread kindness! Every day is a great day to show people around us that we care! You can download the printable version here.
March Kindness Calendar
Hello everyone! It’s a new month so that means new opportunities to show kindness to those around us! Click here to download the printable version.
Building Empathy – Our 2024 Summer Theme!
Building Empathy is our 2024 Summer Theme!
Empathy is our ability to understand how others feel, and building our empathy skills are foundational for closer friendships and improved well-being. In a world that is increasingly divided, building empathy is vital to cultivating meaningful relationships with people from diverse backgrounds.
Empathy is a skill that can be practiced, and this summer, we will focus on six tools to help campers cultivate empathy:
- Active Listening
- Emotional Literacy
- Perspective-Taking
- Storytelling
- Disagreeing without Debating
- Being an Upstander
Our logo this year includes a blueprint drawing and construction tools. A blueprint drawing is one of the first phases in planning and design during a construction project. Just as architects must consider various perspectives when designing a building to meet the needs of different users, developing empathy requires understanding and appreciating the perspectives of others. A blueprint also provides a comprehensive plan for a building, considering not just its individual components but how they interact to create a functional and harmonious space. Empathy requires seeing the whole picture by considering the emotions, experiences, and circumstances that shape others’ perspectives and behaviors.
Just as construction tools are used to measure, cut, and shape materials, empathy involves using various “tools” such as active listening, perspective-taking, and emotional literacy to understand others’ experiences, perspectives, and emotions.A well-equipped construction toolkit contains a variety of tools for different tasks and situations. Just as construction tools are used to build structures that connect people and communities, empathy serves as a tool for building bridges and connections between individuals, fostering mutual understanding, compassion, and cooperation.
This summer, we will talk about how we can build our empathy each day at Morning Assembly, and we’ll be adding skills to our empathy “toolkits.” At campers’ nightly cabin campfires, counselors will facilitate empathy-related discussions, and help campers practice active listening and storytelling through daily sharing.
Building Empathy is about putting less emphasis on “me” and more emphasis on “we.” Empathy builders connect with others in meaningful ways and seek to better understand how others are feeling. Our goal is for campers and staff to become empathy builders in their schools, workplaces, and communities.
Our theme this summer builds many of our past themes related to gratitude, kindness, kindness (Cool 2B Kind), relationship building (Creating Connections), helpfulness (Give a Hand), grit (Growing Grit), positivity (The Energy Bus), a focus on friendship (Find-a-Friend), building up others (Filling Buckets), being our best selves (Be You), appreciating our community (Better Together), and Choosing Kindness (2022).
We can’t wait to build our empathy skills together this summer!
February Kindness Calendar
Happy February, everyone! This month is full of love and good feelings! We are so happy to share 29 (whoa!) awesome ways to spread kindness to/with your friends and family. You can download the printable version here.
