The Aloha Foundation Blog
May 4th, 2012
Conquering an element on the ropes course brings great satisfaction.
Parenting a teenager can leave a mother or father at their wits’ end, marveling at the unpredictable, and frequently infuriating behavior exhibited by their child. Research by the NIH over the last decade has taught us that human brains don’t actually finish developing until we’re nearly 25. Knowing this, a teen’s impulsive actions can be chalked up to age-appropriate developmental behavior, a source of some comfort for bewildered parents. A blog post for parents published in 2009 explained, “We now know that the area of brain growth during adolescence centers on the frontal lobe. This is the control center for ‘executive functions’ such as planning, impulse control and reasoning.” A teen’s lack of executive function skills is easier to understand and accept, with the knowledge that their brain is undergoing significant growth. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: adult-child relations, Aloha, Aloha Camps, Aloha Hive, boys, Camp, Child Development, fairlee, girls, Horizons, Lanakila, leadership, over-parenting, self-confidence, self-esteem, summer camp, Vermont
Posted in Camp Philosophy, Child Development, Success Counseling | No Comments »
April 6th, 2012
The first time Jason Knowles took a job at Aloha Camp, in 1997, he was single and had no children of his own. The next summer, he returned to Aloha and met a fellow counselor, Katie Pilcher, daughter of former Lanakila director Paul Pilcher. A few years later, Jason and Katie held their wedding reception at Hulbert Outdoor Center. So when Jason returned to The Aloha Foundation full-time in January 2012 as Director of Hulbert Outdoor Center, he brought a sense of the center’s long history with him. The family also brought two young children and a deepening sense of the rhythms and openings in the school year.
“We looked at our programs with regard to the needs of parents,” he said, as well as in the context of a broader goal of tying Aloha more closely to Upper Valley communities. “One of the questions that comes up for parents is what to do for school vacations.” It didn’t take long to decide to hold a spring vacation day camp at Hulbert for the first time in more than a decade. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aloha Camps, Aloha Foundation, boys, Day Camp, girls, Hulbert Outdoor Center, Upper Valley, Vermont
Posted in Camp News, Uncategorized | No Comments »
March 8th, 2012
Even in March, there is plenty of activity in Fairlee, Vermont. Although the population around Lakes Morey and Fairlee is certainly less than it will be in July and August, late winter brings School Program and weekend groups to Hulbert,and plenty of skaters and fishermen to the frozen lake surfaces. In spite of the presence of schoolchildren, skaters and winter enthusiasts, there is always a sense of quiet around our campuses, even in the height of summer when our hillsides and waterfronts are busiest. Those of us who spend all year in Fairlee sometimes take the quiet for granted, and relish returning to it after a trip “away.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aloha, Aloha Camps, Aloha Foundation, Aloha Hive, boys, Childhood, Community, girls, Hive, Horizons, Hulbert Outdoor Center, kids and social media, Lanakila, Ohana, self-esteem, summer camp, Vermont
Posted in Camp News, Camp Philosophy, Children and Social Media, Children and Technology | No Comments »
January 1st, 2012
As we ring in 2012, Aloha bids farewell to two people who, as much as anyone over the past quarter-century, have embodied The Aloha Foundation’s spirit and traditions. Deb and Andy Williams, who ran Hulbert Outdoor Center for two decades and Ohana Family Camp for the past six years — are retiring. They’ve introduced hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people to the Aloha experience during their time here, and broadened that experience to include people of all ages.
On a still-warm day in December, they sat in the sunroom of their Norwich, Vermont home and reflected on their own Aloha experience. Not surprisingly, they talked a lot about their work at Ohana, the family camp they helped build over the past decade.
“One has very few opportunities in a career to start something from scratch,” said Andy. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aloha Camps, Aloha Foundation, fairlee, family camp, leadership, Ohana, summer camp, Vermont
Posted in Camp News | 6 Comments »
December 12th, 2011
Imagine if Hogwarts had a day camp for aspiring young wizards. That thought wasn’t too far a stretch one afternoon this past summer at Horizons. It was “choice” period at Horizons, the only non-residential camp of The Aloha Foundation. On a broad grassy playing field, Chipmunks to Falcons — campers ranging in age from kindergarten graduates to nearly-out-of-middle-schoolers — were preparing for an important match. They wriggled into green or yellow pinneys and chose carefully among a pile of brightly colored swim noodles. Some of the children taped big letters — B, C, K — to their pinneys. At the ends of the playing field, three tall wooden stakes held hula hoops aloft — yellow, pale green, and, higher than the other two, pink. Together, the stakes and the upended hoops looked like enormous bubble wands — but were actually goals for the quaffle. The lettered pinneys stood for Bludgers, Chasers and Keepers. And the field was set for an all-out, campers against counselors, game of Quidditch. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aloha Camps, Aloha Foundation, Camp, camps, Childhood, Fun, Horizons, summer camp, Vermont
Posted in Camp News, Child Development | No Comments »
September 5th, 2011
Each day at Hive is filled with adventures AND hugs
“Who sends a seven year-old to camp?”
I start with this question because I got it a lot when I made the decision to send my daughter for her Elfin summer — and I repeatedly asked it of myself when I was packing her trunk. “Who sends a seven year-old off to camp?”
But the decision to do it was actually very easy: my daughter has always had a daring spirit and when she heard that there were places for kids to go adventuring by themselves away from their families, she was thrilled. My husband and I could have said, “No, wait until you are older,” but we wanted to encourage her. We were frank with her about the challenges — yes, she would probably have moments of wanting to go home. That was normal. How was she going to handle it? we asked. She would talk to her counselor, she said, and find something to keep her busy. Good plan, we said. At worst, we told her, you’ll have ten days that were harder than you expected but you will come home proud that you tried something new.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aloha Camps, Aloha Foundation, Aloha Hive, Camp, Child Development, empowerment, fairlee, girls, lake fairlee, self-confidence, self-esteem, summer camp, Vermont
Posted in Camp Philosophy, Child Development, Success Counseling | 4 Comments »
August 22nd, 2011
The challenge to get to the top is physical and mental
One morning late last spring, 30 eighth-graders from Claremont, New Hampshire, walked off a school bus at Hulbert Outdoor Center. They’d heard about this day from students who’d graduated before them at Claremont Middle School. They’d heard their teacher, Jessica Warkentien, call it “a culminating experience.” Her phrase captured the day’s double purpose — both a celebration of the end of middle school and a series of challenges that would test the students in new and perhaps surprising ways.
They followed a wide path from the bus into the woods, where five instructors trained in experiential education were waiting to guide the students through a ropes course. With the help of the Hulbert staff, the young teenagers ambling up the path would learn — perhaps discover — how they assessed risk and limits, how they performed under pressure, how they gave and received support from others. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aloha Camps, boys, girls, Horizons, self-confidence, self-esteem, trust
Posted in Camp News, Camp Philosophy, Child Development | 1 Comment »
July 22nd, 2011
Director Downey watches Friday night's performance.
Anne Downey, Department Head of Aloha’s Performing Arts Department, had just called a short break from rehearsals for this year’s show, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” and the Hale, Aloha’s music building was quiet and almost empty. In two days, families and friends would arrive for Show Weekend and the back-to-back musical performances that have become a much anticipated and grand Aloha tradition. Downey gave the confident, matter-of-fact sense that she’d been through this nervous period before and that this year’s cast would be just fine. Still, she was now counting the remaining preparation in hours.
Some girls shuffled off to the main building to refill water bottles. Others retreated to shade under trees or on the porch. A heat wave was cresting over New England, spreading even as far north as Fairlee. Every door in the building stood wide open to welcome small gusts coming off Lake Morey or slight forest breezes. Downey waved her copy of the script like a thick fan and explained that after the break, the cast would do a complete run-through of the show. “We want them to see what they can do,” Downey said. “We have girls on lights, backstage, on stage. This is big-girl camp. Every girl plays an important role.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aloha, Aloha Camps, Aloha Foundation, Camp, girls, self-confidence, self-esteem, summer camp, Vermont
Posted in Camp News, Camp Philosophy | No Comments »
July 20th, 2011
Beginners get one-on-one coaching on the Aloha crew dock
Aloha Camp was in full summer swing last week, one perfect day following another. On Tuesday afternoon, the sun beamed down full, adding sparkle to Lake Morey’s brilliant blue. Four campers walked down to the lake past the ARC (Aloha Rowing Club), where Aloha Crew counselors Emma and Arielle waited for them on a short dock.
Among the colorful beach towels draped over dock posts and the boisterous splashing of swimmers, the girls gathered around a sleek, gray, metal rowing machine. Harper settled into its sliding seat. The rowing machine, a Concept 2 ergometer, mimics the action of rowing. Olympic and collegiate crews train on Concept 2 ergometers year-round. While other campers watched, Arielle talked Harper through the sequence. Harper grasped a handle connected to a coiled chain inside the flywheel of the “erg” and pushed her hands away from her body — “as if they’re going across a little tabletop and then coming back underneath it,” said Arielle, impressing upon Harper the importance of keeping her hands level. “We don’t want any divots in the table.” Next Harper leaned her upper body forward, maintaining the extension of her arms. Finally, Arielle asked Harper to add legs to the sequence. The camper slid all the way to the front of her slide until her body was tightly compressed at what rowers call “the catch.” On Arielle’s command, Harper uncoiled in the reverse sequence, pushing down her legs, unfolding her back, and pulling her arms and the handle in above her waist. The flywheel whirred. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Aloha, Aloha Camps, Aloha Foundation, Child Development, fairlee, girls, morey, self-confidence, self-esteem, Success Counseling, summer camp, Vermont
Posted in Camp News, Child Development, Success Counseling | 3 Comments »
June 10th, 2011
At Aloha, there are many moments that help to create close, loving community for girls.
For the staff and counselors of the Aloha Camps, a new season means a new outbreak of seasonal sickness. Not the flu or even a summer cold — but homesickness, a discomfiting ache for home that can trouble mind, body, and spirit. Luckily for the sufferers, homesickness is generally not hard to cure. And reassuring for all of us, recent research highlights the successful strategies that Aloha staff and families have used for years. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Camp News, Camp Philosophy, Child Development, Success Counseling | No Comments »
