Log-In Dates & Rates 781-793-0091
Enroll Now Meet Jack
About Us Kenwood For Boys Evergreen For Girls
Enroll Now Book Call Get Started Menu
Speak To A Director
Book A Tour
Subscribe to Summer Matters
Download Brochure
Register For Summer

Summer Matters

Peanut Pals. Shield of Honor. Mess Ugly

This article is part of the Camps Kenwood & Evergreen (K&E) resource library for parents exploring overnight summer camp in New England.
​

Summer Matters

Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships

A few weeks ago, I sat with a group of Juniper 2006 alumni.

Their oldest kids are getting close to camp age. And they had questions. Not about schedules or pricing or activities.

They wanted to know if the traditions would still be there.

Peanut Pals. Shield of Honor. Big Brothers and Big Sisters. Opening Campfire. Mess Ugly. Spirit Night. If some of these are new to you, they won’t be for long. If you’ve been here before, these mean everything to you.

That conversation stuck with me. Because what they were really asking was: will camp still feel like camp?

The traditions make the place

Sitting with those former Junipers, I realized they felt tied to specific people. Phyllis, Jacki, and Scott have stewarded these moments for years. Kept them going. Passed them along. Started some from scratch.

Jacki and Scott are still at camp. Scott will still lead Friday night services. Jacki’s 110% speech will still fire you up at Opening Campfire.

And what I saw in that room was the answer to their question.

These traditions aren’t fragile. They’ve already survived decades of new staff, new directors, new families. They survive because they’re not about any one person. They’re about what happens when kids live together long enough for something real to form.

Peanut Pals isn’t just connecting girls across units. It’s a 7-year-old realizing an actual older kid thinks they’re worth looking out for.

Opening Campfire isn’t about gathering and singing songs. It’s the first time all of Kenwood and Evergreen are all in one place.

The traditions create the moments. The moments create the memories. The memories bring the Junipers back twenty years later asking if their kids can have the same thing.

Your kid and camp traditions

Most places with strong traditions use them to keep people out. You earn your way in. Prove you belong. Wait your turn.

Camp works the opposite way.

K&E has been around for almost a hundred years because all we do is put kids into the tradition immediately. Your kid doesn’t know what Opening Campfire is on Day 1. By the end of Week 1, they’re in it. Traditions at camp are inclusive to all campers. They are the soul of the place, and frankly, why new kids love this place from Day 1.

One of the Juniper girls told me her daughter would be coming to camp in two years.

It wasn’t because she’d heard about something new. It was because the soul of camp is the same as when she was here. Same as it’s been for decades.

See you this summer!

Jack

P.S. If you don’t know what Peanut Pal and Shield of Honor are, I’d love to explain them to you and what they mean for your child. Schedule a quick call here to talk camp.

P.P.S. I am up at camp all month, posting videos from different spots every day. Follow along at any of the links below.


YouTube

Instagram

Facebook

Linkedin

Jack Schott

Owner & Director
Camps Kenwood & Evergreen
[email protected]
585-451-5141 (text me)

114 Eagle Pond Rd, Wilmot, NH 03287
​Unsubscribe · Preferences​

Camps Kenwood & Evergreen Snapshot

  • Location: New England overnight summer camp
  • Philosophy: Growth through community, independence, and belonging
  • Structure: Unified camp mission with gender-specific campuses
  • Outcomes: Confidence, leadership, friendship, identity growth

More Stories to Read:

Jack Schott

Jack Schott is the Director of Camps Kenwood & Evergreen and a lifelong camp professional. With decades of experience as a counselor, director, and trainer, Jack is passionate about creating joyful, growth-focused environments where children build confidence, resilience, and character through healthy challenge and fun.
All Stories

Same school of thought

Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships Sometimes I wonder if we’re getting this right. I mean, not really, I know we’re getting it right. But it’s not like there’s a report card for camps, or a panel of camp judges showing up in August to score how we did overall. We put a lot of thought into how summer is structured. What the days look like, what kids leave with, whether all of it adds up. And then a big part of the job is trusting it’s the best way to run…

3 minutes. 3 hours. 3 days.

Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships 3 minutes. 3 hours. 3 days. 3 weeks. 3 months. 3 years. 3 decades. Playing a little fast and loose with timelines, but that seems pretty close to what the independence milestones look like for a kid growing up. A camp friend passed these timelines on to me, and I thought they tracked. Let’s break them down. 3 minutes is the first time you feel comfortable leaving your kid out of your sight (maybe in a crib, or a playpen…

Mo money, mo meetings

Summer Matters Inspiring confident, kind kids & forever friendships I’m going to say three things, all true, and that seem completely disconnected. Most people hate going to meetings (me included). We go to a lot more of them than we think Being good at meetings is good for life (mostly) There’s a new study from Harvard about meetings and money. Researchers tracked how much time people spend in meetings and how that impacted their income. The Guy Defending Meetings The study comes from David…

More Stories From This Author:

Scroll to Top