Think about the hardest decisions you’ve made in your life. Maybe it was where to go to college - close to home or across the county. Maybe it was whether or not to take that job, the safe one that everyone expected, or to turn it down to follow your dreams. Maybe it was sending your child to summer camp for two weeks, which felt scary and WAY too long to be away from them?

Now think who taught you how to make wise decisions? Where were you given space as a young person to weigh options, consider the benefits and sacrifices and make your own decisions? There are not many spaces for our children to do this today. We live in a world where decisions are made for our kids - by their teachers, their coaches, their parents, even social media. Most of what our kids do is because someone told them that was the best way to get the result they want.

At Highlander, we believe camp is the best place for our kids to practice the important life skill of decision-making. Learning how to think through options, set priorities, and take ownership of decisions helps build independence, confidence, responsibility, and sound judgment. We call this practice Camper’s Choice.

On Camper’s Choice days every camper gets to choose and sign up for their favorite activities for the entire day and make their own schedule. These are definitely some of the most popular days at camp because campers can choose what they want to do and even choose the friends who they want to spend time with. They are in charge of their destiny, and they LOVE the feeling of autonomy it gives them.

Last night I witnessed the difficult decisions campers had to make when scheduling their day, and today I saw the pure joy of their wise choices. Tomorrow we will rejoin our cabin groups for adventure and fun, but we today are thankful for the gift of choice!

Favorite Details of The Day

• Reflect at the Rock: This morning at Reflect, Evan talked to us about ants! Ants are amazing creatures that have the ability to carry up to 50 times their body weight. He reminded us that ants honor grit over quit. They are persistent and don’t easily give up. He encouraged us to face challenges at camp and in life with that same persistence and determination.
• Weather: We were snuggled in sweatshirts this morning at breakfast, but the sun was shining and it warmed up quickly. It was a beautiful day for activities and fun on camp!
• Meals: For breakfast we had Belgian waffles, scrambled eggs, sausage link, grits, oatmeal and a fresh fruit bar. For lunch we had turkey and cheese ciabatt sandwiches, Miss Vickie’s chip, a salad bar and a sandwich bar. Dinner was grilled chicken, roasted red potatoes, haricot verts, warm rolls and our salad bar and sandwich bar. For dinner we had a camp favorite - banana pudding with nilla wafers.
• EP: Tonight’s evening program was Water Olympics! We had a blast splashing and playing in all water competitions. Camp was divided into teams that represented different countries. The winner of last night’s EP was Sweden.