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. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘Horizons’
How wizards spend a hot summer’s day at Horizons Day Camp
Monday, December 12th, 2011Hulbert School Programs
Monday, 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. (more…)
How Does My Child Benefit from Counselor Success Counseling at The Aloha Camps?
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010By Barnes Boffey, Lanakila Director
Success Counseling is a philosophy, a theory of behavior, and a set of skills for helping ourselves and other people grow and make effective choices. This short passage from an article written a few years ago explains a few basics which we can use to begin a longer discussion of success counseling and how it works. I would be happy to answer any questions about success counseling or its implementation in future blog entries. We will also be sharing more theory in the months ahead.
Success Counseling means that counselors are prepared to help campers in many ways, every day.
Working as a camp counselor can be exciting, rewarding and enriching. But it’s hard work. Perhaps the most difficult task is dealing with a wide range of human behaviors. In most cases, counselors come to camp with some good natural instincts about working with children. But just as natural athletes need coaching and training to become consistent and disciplined, quality counseling must be developed through training and practice.
Quality camp counseling demands that counselors understand how the counseling process works as well as how its procedures fit into camp’s overall beliefs about the nature of human behavior and personal growth. Over the last 15 years at Lanakila and our two sister camps, Aloha and Aloha Hive, we have developed and refined a counseling model based on a comprehensive method of understanding human behavior. (more…)
Housekeeping! Sharing Some 2010 Summer News That Got Away!
Sunday, September 19th, 2010The months of June, July and August passed in a warm, sunny blur this year. Hot, summer days in Fairlee were filled with activity seven days a week, on all five Aloha Foundation campuses. Hundreds of staff and campers swelled Fairlee’s summer population and in the office, we enjoyed the excitement that the camp season brought. It is hard, however, to keep up with all the fun that goes on, and even more difficult at times to share the news with our fans. Now that the tents are put away, the docks pulled and campers, counselors and staff alike back in school, the full time employees in Fairlee are able to catch their collective breath a little, before we begin the preparation for summer 2011 (yes, we are already thinking ahead!).
Before we leave the summer of 2010 behind, here are a few stories you might have missed.
Vermont National Guard families enjoy respite, recreation and relaxation at Ohana – and Ohana enjoys their company.
Vermont National Guard member cuddles his daughter at Ohana Family Camp.
Fifteen families of Vermont National Guard members currently deployed in Afghanistan – about 55 parents and children in all – took up residence at Ohana Family Camp from June 27th through July 2nd. They came from all over the state — Georgia, VT, way up in the NW corner to Bennington at the southern tip. Written words can’t portray the experience better than does this short video report that appeared in a television news broadcast on the CBS affiliate in Burlington, VT. Many donors contributed toward the $20,000 cost of this tuition-free week at Ohana for Guard member families, including $5,000 from Vermont National Guard Charitable Foundation.
Senator Sanders letter to The Aloha Foundation.
Vermont’s United States Senator Bernie Sanders wrote this to us, in part: Allow me, on behalf of a of not only Vermont but a grateful nation to thank [you] for providing a week of joy, fun and relaxation at Ohana Camp for Vermont National Guard family members, while their loved ones are serving overseas…I applaud the vision, commitment and compassion demonstrated by the Aloha Foundation…to reach out to these family members faced with lengthy separation…[and] feel certain that the memories of the week spent at Ohana Camp will help assure the families that there are many of us who care about them…and want to offer support and gratitude…Aloha! Congratulations on a job well done.
After the VNG week was over, an article in our local Valley News about the Ohana family camp week caught the eye of a Lyme, NH, philanthropist. The anonymous donor — not previously a contributor to the Foundation — has pledged $25,000 to support the entire cost of next year’s edition of the Guard program. In addition, the donor has offered to pay the way for any families left on the waiting list for this summer’s Guard Week who wish to participate in New Year’s Family Camp at Hulbert in December. (more…)
How do The Aloha Camps help kids unplug from the 24/7 world of technology?
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Kids thrive at Aloha Camps once they are unplugged from Social Media and Hovering Parents.
I saw a “tween” recently in my therapy practice who I suspected might have some food issues. When I began asking gingerly about her eating habits she whipped out her cell phone to text her mother: “What do I usually eat for breakfast?” After a minute of messaging she turned her attention back to me to report the results of her inquiry.
Now, I’m sure this young girl could have answered my questions without electronically soliciting help from her mom. Yet her reflexive texting habit made stopping to think for herself entirely avoidable – and regrettably so, because stopping to think is often when important insights occur. That’s why I leave a lot of space in therapy sessions for thought and contemplation on the part of the children I see. Unfortunately, stopping to think is a behavior less and less common among teenagers and pre-teens.
We all know the reason: instant Internet communication plays an increasingly dominant role in the lives of ever-younger children. A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study found that adolescents spend 6.5 to 8.5 hours a day consuming online media. Virtual technologies are now entrenched in children’s daily routines. Online chatting, text messaging, social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, and music and video channels such as iTunes and YouTube significantly reduce youngsters’ exposure to direct, interpersonal experiences. (more…)
Risk, Adventure and Your Child: One Feeds the other at Vermont Camp Aloha
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
Skills training allows kids to take healthy risks.
A rogue gust capsized the small sailboat, sending the Farley-McSorley family tumbling into the chilly Vermont waters of Lake Fairlee. As their life jackets bobbed them back to the surface, 10-year-old Madison took charge.
“Mom, Dad, are you OK?”
Satisfied that they were, Madison quickly and confidently guided her parents through the task of righting the capsized boat and they headed back to camp to dry out. Safe on shore, Anne and Brian gazed in amazement at their daughter, who had been a shy and retiring 5th grader when they dropped her off at Vermont’s Aloha Hive Camp a few weeks before.
Anne’s face broke into a grin. “This is great!” she thought.
The family’s experience is emblematic of a growing school of thought amongst parents and childhood development experts: that creating a childhood that is completely safe – that is to say, free from risk – is to rob children of vital growth opportunities. The self-confidence Madison showed as she led her parents through righting the boat and returning to shore was the result of learning to master a situation that contained real consequences. (more…)
Welcome to the new Aloha Foundation Blog!
Friday, April 9th, 2010
Image by Hunter-Desportes via Flickr
Dedicated to news and information from the camps & programs of The Aloha Foundation.
How do our camps and programs foster fun, learning and growth, all at the same time? Not by chance, but rather by thoughtfully creating and continually refining experiences and leadership practices that reflect our key beliefs:
Being happy in life is more about choice than about luck. We have little control over what life throws at us, but we have the power to perceive any circumstance in either a positive or a negative light. “Success Counseling” is a powerful guidance technique pioneered by the camps of The Aloha Foundation. It emphasizes our ability to choose how we respond to situations rather than being victimized by them – when a camper complains “Sam or Pam made me mad,” we ask the question “Do you want to keep feeling that way?” Every camp counselor is trained to use Success Counseling to help campers achieve goals and resolve problems by taking responsibility for their own actions, attitudes and feelings.
