The day started with a very important question for our campers. During breakfast announcements, I asked “Can anyone tell me what today is?”

Hands were flying in the air and the guesses were just as crazy. I got Tuesday, Taco day? (Not entirely wrong, as it turned out,) my birthday. Then I turned to our leadership team. “Hey Leadership! Tell everyone what today is.”

They jumped up from their seats, hands bouncing in the air as they screamed: “Six. Seven.”

The dining hall absolutely erupted.

Now — if you’re a parent of a kid between the ages of 8 and 16, you may already know that 6-7 has become something of a cultural moment for this generation. It lives in group chats, in comment sections of Highlander webinars (iykyk), in inside jokes passed between friends who needed exactly zero reason to celebrate other than the fact that it is, in fact, June 7th! I have no idea who invented it, but my guess is that kids invented it because they love any excuse to laugh together, to be a little loud, to point at something ridiculous and say — “this is funny and we should keep doing it!”

Here is what I know about this generation of kids. While they are considered totally plugged in, less social and distracted as a generation, they will still stop everything to scream about two consecutive numbers with their friends. Not because it means something profound. Because it means something to them. Because a shared laugh is a form of connection, and they crave it, even if they couldn’t explain it that way.

Camp Highlander is built on exactly that need for connection.

Every cheer, every inside joke, every ridiculous tradition we’ve accumulated on Old Forge Mountain over the years exists for the same reason 6-7 does — because shared moments, even tiny ones, are the scaffolding of belonging. When 200 campers lose their minds over a date together in the dining hall, they aren’t just being silly. They are CONNECTING. Building the invisible thread that ties a cabin together, that turns strangers into people who would do anything to make others day.

I stood in the middle of that dining hall chaos this morning and I just smiled. Because this is it. This is why camp is so special. Not the big, choreographed moments. The small, spontaneous ones. The ones you can’t plan and can’t manufacture. The ones that erupt when you put the right people together and give them the space to just be.

And because we are Camp Highlander and we do not do anything halfway, 6-7 didn’t just live at breakfast. All day long, counselors and directors were sneaking up on campers, bouncing their hands, screaming 6-7 right back at them — absolutely delighted to be in on the joke. I saw the purest joy coming from our staff today. The kind that comes from genuinely loving the people you’re with and being willing to look completely ridiculous to show it. Our staff found their silly today, and they leaned into it with everything they had. There is something so beautiful about watching a group of young adults follow the lead of children into a moment of total, life-giving joy.

As 6-7 wove itself through our day,it landed exactly where it belonged for an amazing Evening Program. Cabin Challenge took on a regal new twist tonight with the arrival of a new character ”King 6-7.” Fully costumed. Fully committed. A fictional monarch with a very real mission — to find the best cabin amongst the subjects of his kingdom. Cabins dressed up in the theme of their choice from America theme to assorted Barbies. They competed in challenges against other cabins like tic-tac-toe relay, Pictionary, musical ice buckets,limbo and more. The night was filled with cheering, laughing, living for every second of silly. A day that opened with a scream closed with deafening chants in the finale as 3 cabins competed in a finale. Cabins 3, 9 & 24 battled in a paddle challenge. Each group had to balance a ping pong ball on their given paddle. The lower cabin had tennis rackets, the middle cabin had pickleball paddles and the senior cabin had ping pong paddles. Once all the balls had dropped in middle camp, it was between senior girls and junior boys. The boys were down to 4 competitors and the girls had 6, and slowly the girls started dropping, one by one, and Cabin 24 took home the EP trophy and was crowned the best cabin in King 6-7’s kingdom. To top the day with icing on the cake, just as King 6-7 was hailed by his subjects, a new character ran onto the Assembly Court and stole his crown, Queen Scuba…

Ok parents…do you know what scuba is yet??? I can’t keep up!

There will come a day when 6-7 is just a date again. A random day in June. Just two numbers on a calendar. But for the campers and staff who were on Old Forge Mountain today, it will always be something else entirely - an unforgettable memory in our hearts forever. Thank you for sharing these incredible kids with us. Getting to laugh with them — and at ourselves — is something that fills my cup and keeps me young (at heart).

Favorite Details of the Day

• Weather: We enjoyed another beautiful, sunny, warm day on Old Forge. We are the luckiest!
• Meals: Breakfast was Belgian waffles, scrambled eggs, sausage links, fresh fruit bar, yogurt, granola, and cereal. Lunch was ground turkey tacos (hard or soft shell!) with all the fixings, including homemade guacamole, plus our sandwich bar, salad bar, and black beans and rice. Dinner was spaghetti, roasted broccoli, and garlic bread, with the sandwich bar, salad bar, and buttered noodles as alternates. Dessert was the one and only Ice Cream Dream — a Highlander original best described as an ice cream sandwich extraordinaire, that may even beat out Highlander Mudslide as the favorite dessert.
• Reflect at the Rock: My Reflect at the Rock this morning was about the power of introducing yourself. We’ve all been the new person in a group — surrounded by people and somehow completely alone. Three of the most powerful words you can say are “Hi, I’m [name].” Those words have the power to make someone feel seen and valued, and every meaningful relationship, every memory we cherish in life, begins right there. So I encouraged our campers to step outside their comfort zone, introduce themselves to someone new, and make their friendship circle a little bigger today. Camp is the best place to practice this wonderful life skill!
• Evening Program: Cabin Challenge - it was EPIC!