Sunday night, on the cusp of a gorgeous sunset seen from the Images, our LTP campers led us in Vespers with a focus on Hope. As we sat and listened to their reflections on the topic, as we gazed upon a group of strong and capable camp leaders, it was hard not to feel our own hopes float, knowing as we do that Wawenock plays a central role in raising generations of women who go on to be agents of change in a world that needs healing.
This summer in particular, in the midst of a pandemic that has thrust us into conditions of uncertainty, we are finding a way to stoke the hope in our girls that life can still be fun and inspiring, that the staff around them are committed to ensuring that whatever sense of normalcy can exist, we will find a way to provide for it.
But even in our non-pandemic seasons, hope remains a central theme of camp. We see it as the girls take on new challenges, setting goals for themselves based on the hope that they are capable of achieving them, and we see it nourished when they fall short of those goals and hope that continued efforts will yield positive outcomes, because where there is hope, so too is there resilience and optimism.
Hope and its accompanying perseverance fuel feelings of self-efficacy, the formation of which grounds the skills the girls will develop as they mature; when they aim their arrows at a target, or poise their tennis rackets to hit a ball, or work the clay to build a pinch pot, their hope for a desired result reflects a hope for a future that they are capable of co-creating.
Camp is the playground of hope, where dreams are dreamt and wishes are made. That we can help facilitate its cultivation, in the camp season and beyond, is a privilege we don’t take lightly. We appreciate the support our community has given us as we undertake the challenges and joys of our Wawenock Spirit Weeks; we know we stand together in hope, with hope, that this summer will have a lasting, beautiful impact on all of us.