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Opening Day Kickoff: Full Hearts on Old Forge
When I was a little girl, the night before the first day of camp was always filled with a specific kind of magic. I would lay my clothes out on the ch...
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Building Resilience at Summer Camp: A Non-Therapeutic Approach to Mental Fitness for Kids
THE BOTTOM LINE Non-therapeutic residential camps that are intentional about character development occupy a critical middle ground between purely recr...
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Separated Co-Ed Camps: The Best of Both Worlds for Families with Brothers and Sisters
A “separated co-ed” camp houses boys and girls on opposite sides of the property in gender-specific cabins while bringing them together for meals, tra...
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Electronics-Free Summer Camps: Why the ‘Analog Childhood’ Movement Is Reshaping How Parents Choose Camp
Electronics-free summer camps remove all personal digital devices, including smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, gaming consoles, and earbuds, for the...
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The Complete Parent’s Guide to Choosing a First-Time Sleepaway Camp in Western North Carolina
The ideal first sleepaway camp for a young child offers a short introductory session of six to eight nights, a counselor-to-camper ratio of 1:5 or bet...
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How To Find The Best Boys Summer Camp In The U.S.
How To Find The Best Boys Summer Camp In The U.S. Choosing a summer camp for your son can feel overwhelming. With hundreds of options across the count...
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Best Summer Activities For Boys: Building Skills, Confidence, and Lasting Memories
Best Summer Activities For Boys: Building Skills, Confidence, and Lasting Memories Summer break stretches ahead with endless possibilities. For boys a...
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Thank You 2025
When you dropped your child off at Highlander, you saw the cabins, the smiling staff, and the trunks packed with bug spray, swimsuits, and silly costu...
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Color War 2025: Final Day
This morning marked the final half day of Color War 2025. We kicked things off with our last round of competitions at 10:00 a.m., followed by the much...
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Day Three: The Battle with Fire
Day Three of Color War was incredible, with the Blue Knights and Red Dragons battling it out in a full day of intense competition. With more points up...
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Day 2 Color War 2025
Day Two of Color War 2025 was nonstop running from the wake-up bell to lights out. Campers were racing from one event to the next—whether spectating o...
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Color War Day 1
We kicked off Color War with an incredible full day of competition! The weather was just right—warm and sunny, with the coolest & most beautiful e...
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THE BREAK
If there was a competition for the most surprising, unexpected Color War break in Camp Highlander history…the Green Giants of 2025 would take first pl...
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Competition That Counts
Camp is full of adventure—climbing walls, swimming races, epic games, talent shows, and of course… COLOR WAR. It’s a place of big moments and bold ach...
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Ice Cream and Color War Dreams
There’s something extra sweet about Sundays at Camp Highlander—and today, even with a little rain and cloud cover, the joy was overflowing. Why? Becau...
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Sweet Surprises, Including the Rain
At Camp Highlander, we believe the best days are often the ones filled with sweet surprises—rain included! And today was just that. The morning starte...
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Thriving Not Surviving
Today at Camp Highlander, we entered the wild world of Survivor—our evening program inspired by the iconic TV show—and it got me thinking about how ca...
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Almost Perfect Day
Today was an almost perfect day - one of those days at camp where everything just felt right. After five days together, our cabin groups have really f...
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Confidence, Joy & Freedom
I love Camper’s Choice Days! There’s something incredibly powerful that happens when campers get to take the reins — when they’re trusted to choose ho...
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Always a Reason To Dance
As I sit at my desk writing my blog tonight, I’m listening to your children dancing on the field during the final song of our square dance and my hear...
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Attitude Is Everything
At Camp Highlander, we know that the most important lessons our campers learn each summer don’t come from an activity or a skill—they come from within...
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OUR BEST LIFE
We’ve had an incredible summer at Camp Highlander—truly magical. Our staff this year has been nothing short of exceptional: passionate, dedicated, har...
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BEST B SESSION EVER!!!
Tonight was one of those magical nights that reminds me exactly why Camp Highlander is so special. Dinner stretched on until 7:15—an hour and fifteen ...
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The Joy of Childhood
Today is National Be a Kid Again Day—and it got me thinking: if you could go back and pick just one day to be a kid again, which day would you choose?...
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