Green – White 2024 Begins
Tonight we kicked off our Green-White competition for 2024, and the energy was high! Our camp colors are Forest Green and White, and all of camp is split up between the two teams for a full summer competition. First year campers had big smiles and new paint on their faces as they discovered whether they were placed on Green or White for this summer and for the rest of their lives.
With their faces painted in their teams colors, we had our first Green-White series of the summer, where kids participate in various events within their age groups representing their team. Here at North Star, the Green-White competition is about more than just winning; it’s about showcasing the incredible talents and spirit of our campers. We have huge events like the Green-White Marathon, All-Camp Capture the Flag games, the Camper-Counselor Hunt, and the Dodgeball Extravaganza! Plus, we’ve got two more Green-White Series to keep the excitement going all summer long.
Our approach to competition is rooted in kindness and camaraderie. We believe that true sportsmanship means respecting and uplifting each other, whether you’re on the same team or not. We want our campers to be friends first and foremost, understanding that the bonds they build and the respect they show each other are what truly matter. In many other places, you might hear kids taunting each other with phrases like “we won, you stink.” And even if that might fly on the playground, our belief is that talk like this makes the cabin and camp feel less hospitable. We are committed to creating a supportive environment where our campers feel safe and encouraged, both in competition and in their cabins.
Tonight was also our first picnic of the summer with a delicious barbecue chicken dinner. We feasted on a meal complete with watermelon and our famous Martha’s Bread—a cinnamon sugar loaf that drives the kids wild.
From waterskiing and sailing, to rock climbing and basketball, camp is a place for fun, structured activity. But not always. As important as it is for our campers to have fun here at North Star, we don’t believe in shielding your kids from boredom. In fact, we deliberately create it.
Tomorrow will be our first Unorganized Free period of the summer. Unstructured free time can be considered boring, which is exactly why it’s essential to every North Star summer. Every day, we devote an hour and fifteen minutes to “organized free” after our scheduled activities, giving our campers the option of a break from our rigid routine in favor of unstructured free time. It’s during these potentially “boring” moments that our children do some of their greatest growth at North Star, learning to discover what it is that cures their boredom in a fulfilling manner. It’s where they learn to develop hobbies that will serve them throughout their entire lives, where our children’s imagination and creativity are forced to run wild with invention, anywhere from swim point to the Arm and Hammer.
Here’s Catherine Pearson of the New York Times on the matter:
Why Boredom Benefits Kids and How to Cultivate It This Summer
