College Days at North Star: A Boys Camp Tradition
North Star Camp for Boys sits in the Wisconsin Northwoods, and a single evening here often holds more than one kind of milestone. One night this week brought two of them together. We celebrated six people who have each spent ten summers at North Star, and our oldest campers pushed into the heart of College Days, a three-day competition they organize and run largely on their own. For families who are still deciding whether an overnight camp is right for their son, evenings like this one show what the community actually rewards and how it grows its own leaders.
Celebrating the Big Ten
The Big Ten is North Star’s name for the people who reach their tenth summer at camp, and this year we honored six of them: Sam, Dylan, Jay, Joseph, Gabe, and Sandy. Each of them arrived at that milestone by a different route. Sandy has spent years feeding generations of campers as our beloved baker and now leads our housekeeping team with that same care and dedication. The other five are former campers who grew up at North Star and came back to become leaders on our counseling staff. They are all remarkable role models for our campers, and together they represent the many ways a person can strengthen a place like this over a decade.
A Surprise Disguised as a Hatchet Hunt
At North Star the Big Ten celebration always arrives as a surprise, and this year we hid it inside a Hatchet Hunt. Cabins followed a trail of clues around camp, and those clues pointed toward the event itself rather than a place, which kept everyone guessing until the last moment. Waiting at the end were parents, former co-counselors, old friends, and family members who had quietly traveled to camp to be part of the celebration. Hearing old stories told again and watching camp friends reunite after years apart is a large part of what makes the evening feel the way it does.
College Days: When Campers Run the Show
While the Big Ten looked backward across ten summers, our campers who just finished eighth and ninth grade spent the past few days looking straight ahead into College Days. This is a three-day competition that has become one of the defining experiences of a North Star summer for our oldest campers, and it works differently from almost anything else on the schedule. The boys divide themselves into four teams, and this year those teams took the names University of Miami, Coastal Carolina, Long Island University, and Central Michigan. Over three days they compete across nearly every activity camp offers, from soccer, softball, basketball, and swimming to chess, debate, archery, riflery, waterskiing, trivia, arm wrestling, outdoor skills, cheers, plaques, mascots, and the always anticipated cook-off.
What sets College Days apart is who does the organizing. Much of camp is carefully planned by counselors so that campers can focus on learning new skills, growing, and having fun, but College Days hands that responsibility to the campers themselves. They organize teammates, solve problems, make decisions, and figure out how to balance a roster of very different strengths. Some boys compete in athletic events while others design plaques, write cheers, or keep track of where everyone needs to be next, and success depends on every member of the team contributing something. Those leadership opportunities end up mattering just as much as the final scores.
Highlights From the Competition
The three days have delivered the kind of moments that campers talk about for the rest of the summer. In the soccer competition, Ben scored on an incredible header that had teammates and spectators erupting all at once. The softball games earlier in the week were outstanding from start to finish, and tonight the attention shifted to basketball as the standings continued to tighten. The night before, the boys traveled to the Hayward ice rink for a game of broom-ball, and Noah claimed the College Days arm wrestling championship after a series of hard-fought matches. Heading into the final day, only eight points separate first place from fourth, which means all four teams still have a real path to the top.
Underneath the scores, College Days reflects the approach to competition that North Star has kept for generations. The boys play incredibly hard and want badly for their teams to win, and when the games end they laugh together, eat together, and walk back to the same cabins as friends. North Star has always held that competition is at its best when it brings out a boy’s best without changing how he treats the people around him.
Tell me to what you pay attention and I will tell you who you are.
– Jose Ortega y Gasset
Plan a North Star Summer
Traditions like the Big Ten and College Days are hard to appreciate from the outside, because they grow out of years of the same people showing up for each other in the Wisconsin Northwoods. If you are exploring overnight camps for your son and want to see how North Star builds young leaders and keeps friendships going for a decade and more, we would love to tell you about our summers and help you find the right session. You can learn more about daily life at our boys summer camp in Wisconsin and reach out to our team whenever you are ready to talk.
FAQ
What is College Days at North Star Camp?
College Days is a three-day, camper-led competition for boys who have just finished eighth and ninth grade. The campers split into four teams and compete across sports, games, and creative events while organizing and leading the entire competition themselves.
Where is North Star Camp located?
North Star Camp for Boys is an overnight summer camp in the Wisconsin Northwoods, near Hayward, Wisconsin.
Does North Star focus on winning?
Competition is part of camp, and traditions like College Days are played hard, but North Star’s long-standing approach is that boys give their best effort and then return to the same cabins as friends. The emphasis stays on effort and sportsmanship rather than winning at any cost.
