Towering Pines Blog

I recently saw a YouTube video featuring an overnight camp director, Jason Smith, speaking at an event called “Ignite Lincoln 2019.”  His topic was “Save the World, Send a Kid to Summer Camp.”  When I saw the tagline, I was hooked!!   In his opening statement Jason shared this, “The world would be a better place if it was easier to make the world a better place.  I’ve got a simple way to do it, send a kid to overnight camp.”

The Jordans obviously believe very strongly in residential summer camp because Towering Pines Camp for Boys is preparing for its 75th summer and Camp Woodland for Girls is getting ready for its 51st summer.  We’re gearing up for “A Place to Grow in 2-0!”  This theme isn’t just a catchy phrase (although we do enjoy those ; ), but rather it’s significant to the mission of our camps.  “Without the opportunity to play, the seeds of youth are unable to develop and grow. Camps Woodland and Towering Pines create a community that fosters growth through purposeful play. Every child deserves a place to discover who they want to be in the world.”

This aligns very well with Jason Smith’s feelings about camp.  “When kids tell me that they love camp, they say it’s because they feel like they can be themselves.  What other experience allows them to become unencumbered by who the world thought they were just 24 hours before and to live in that reality for 7 days, testing that hypothesis of who they are and who they want to become.”  It’s so important for kids to have the opportunity to figure out who they want to be in the world, and we are so grateful that we can provide this special place, the plethora of chances for purposeful play, and an amazing group of other young people to live with and learn with in order to test out what is a good fit and what isn’t.

I hope that you enjoy this short video clip as much as I did.  The messages are clear and simple, but incredibly powerful. The final take from Jason’s talk is this, “The world and all of its pressures can seem to be a very dark place.  But you can only be lost in the darkness, if you don’t have a light.  Overnight camp is about showing kids that they have a lantern of ability and experience that they can use whenever the world seems a little bit too dim.”

Bottom line, I too believe that the world can be a better place if we send kids to overnight camp!!!  Towering Pines and Woodland Camps can be “lanterns” that help “light” the path for our youth to find their way in the world.  Click on the video clip below to view the short YouTube video by Jason Smith.

Angie Wenzl Ziller

• Mom at TP
• Leadership Staff at TP/Office Manager
• Marketing TP/Woodland
• Assistant Waterfront Director at Woodland
• Counselor at Woodland
• “This is goodnight and not goodbye.”