It’s 5:00 pm and I’m in my office catching up on email to parents.  But I’m not getting much done because I keep stopping to listen. Right now the mountain is vibrating with tribe cheers. It’s Tribe Fest, and we are finishing it off with an enthusiastic swim meet. Any day that starts gold rush and ends with sock war elicits a lot of cheering. I have been to a lot of Tribe Fests at camp, and I have been to a lot of field days schools, and there’s a big difference. Schools just do not make this much noise. I think there are three reasons.

First, girls are different when there are no boys in the room. They get very loud, they laugh more, they are not afraid to look silly, and they are not afraid to be athletic, or leaders, or teachers. Our girls are made to engage the world around them and when it is just girls they have the freedom to do this without any concern what a boy might think about it. An all-girl’s camp is a safe place for our campers to figure out who God has made them to be.

Second, living together is completely different than being dropped off at 8:00 and picked up at 3:00. When children live together they develop a sense of empathy that is difficult to find in other places. The result is they find themselves cheering for friends and family, not just randomly selected teams. Even when they do not win, they are proud of each other.

Finally, we are made to be challenged, grow and succeed. When a girl has the freedom to fail without anyone laughing about it, she has the freedom to try new things, and when she does this she is not afraid of challenges. Of course at that point growth and success are then just right around the corner. That is why when they see their friends succeed they begin cheering … very loudly.  It’s very loud here.

Adam (is now further behind with his email)