Carpe diem. Hope everyone is having a beautiful fall season. Lauren and I are inspired to begin an off season blog series. Over the next several months we will be sharing some of our thoughts about our larger vision for camp. In addition, we will offer humbly different take-aways from the latest research in the field of education in an attempt to spark further inquiry on your part. After all, the important work we do as camp directors ultimately leads to the best outcomes for children when we are in partnership with you—their parents. We invite your comments, feedback, and insights as we want this to be a dialogue.

So I will begin with our big vision. From there I will connect to the first of the three core outcomes we want your children to experience as Blue Star campers. Lauren and I envision a sustainable space at Blue Star that is a living and breathing microcosm of what we think the larger world can become. Lauren’s father and director emeritus, Rodger Popkin, often reminds us of a quote from Gandhi. “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him.” Of course, the bumper sticker version goes something like…”Be the change you wish to see in the world.” The point remains the same. We believe Blue Star is a place where children discover their best selves, make connections in an intentional community, and learn to practice Tikkun Olam.

Self-discovery. This is where our camp journey begins. It is the foundation for everything else that happens through the Blue Star experience. Lauren’s grandfather and co-founder of Blue Star, Herman Popkin, used to say that every child possesses a unique gift. The work of camp then is to encourage each camper to discover what her passion is and to go for it. We create a safe haven amidst the natural beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains where every camper is able to gain confidence and independence in discovering his best self. I leave you for now with the link to a TED talk by the spoken word artist, Sarah Kay. In it she describes her own exploration of self-discovery, and I find it inspiring.