Author: JAIME PICKLES

We’ve got some exciting news to share!  Everwood Day Camp’s Founder, Scott Brody was just elected to serve as the Chairman of the Board of the American Camp Association! This is a major honor for Scott, and an opportunity to help children from across the nation to thrive and succeed in a rapidly changing world.   The American Camp Association, accredits high quality camp programs like ours, and supports the training of camp staff  so that all can benefit from the learning and growth that occurs at Camp. Scott’s hard work and dedication to children and to supporting his fellow camp professionals has resulted in this incredible honor and opportunity to serve, and we couldn’t be prouder of our founder, friend and mentor.

From their announcement:

Scott is an educator and thought leader in the areas of 21st-century learning, workforce development, and child development. He is the founder of Everwood Day Camp in Sharon, Massachusetts, and the owner and director of Camps Kenwood & Evergreen. Scott is also a strategic partner of IDEAS Education in Beijing, China. Scott has been an Executive Board member of the Partnership for 21st Century Learning in Washington, DC, and leads P21’s work in “Beyond School” education. Scott has led multiple briefings for the US Congress on the ways in which high quality camp experiences promote college and career readiness and speaks globally on these issues on behalf of the camp profession. Scott is the government affairs chair of both the American Camp Association and the Massachusetts Camp Association and is a member of ACA’s CARE Committee. Scott is a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Jewish Camp and the American Camp Association where is also a past Board Vice President. He is also the author of an award-winning article for Camping Magazine entitled “Teaching the Skills that Children Need to Succeed.” Scott is an honors graduate of UC Berkeley and received a juris doctor from Boston College Law School in 1990.

Click on the image above to see the full announcement!

Please join us in celebrating our friend Scott’s incredible achievement, and for his continued work on behalf of young people all over the world! 

Here at Everwood Day Camp we fully embrace the idea of growth mindset, and that there are always ways we can learn, grow and improve. With that in mind we are so excited to share with you some updates to our swim instruction curriculum and programming for the Summer of 2018. In partnership with the incredibly knowledgable and talented Andy Broido of Swimconsultant.com we have created a child centered swim program that will keep your swimmer moving forward and developing a love of the water! Some of you may recognize Andy’s work as she has closely consulted with the beloved Little Flippers Swim School as well as PODS in Providence…. Here a little more about what to expect…

Our Goal:
Our goal for our swim program is to teach water safety and instill in all students a true love for the water.  In fact we want our campers to love it so much they could live in the water.  To achieve this our goal is that all swimmers feel safe, balanced, comfortable, and happy in the water. This is how swimming and a love of water becomes a skill for life!

The Curriculum:
Our new and updated curriculum has been developed over many years of teaching experience and have proven effective in teaching children to swim. The curriculum focuses on learning breath control, bouyancy and balance in the water.  All our instructors will follow our progressions and lesson plans to insure consistent, effective classes.  Classes will incorporate lots of fun games, songs, and unique equipment to motivate every child

Recognition and Awards: Campers and their parents will receive continued feedback on their progress through our new ribbon rewards.  As campers achieves a new goal/skill they will receive a ribbon recognizing this achievement.  Collect them and watch your child’s confidence and pride soar.

Staff Training: Just a few weeks ago we had the opportunity to bring all of ourswim instructors to the Little FlippersSwim school facility in Winchester, to learn from Andy and other Little Flippers leadership team members.  Staff were in the the water practicing with each other and are ready for a summer in our beautiful lake with our campers!  

Please feel free to reach out with any questions about the swim program. You can Direct questions to the following Everwood Leadership Team members:

Megan Martinsen, Main Campus Waterfront Director

Meredith Bertoni, Main Campus Head Lifeguard

Tom Doering: Upper Campus Waterfront Director

Kristen Kelly:  Upper Campus Head Lifeguard

We hear it all the time- “What’s with these young people? They can’t focus, can’t communicate, they’re entitled, self-centered, constantly staring at their screens!” Well folks, this is the generation we have fostered. Technology snuck up on us, we gave them all participation trophies, and now we have to work alongside of them for the rest of our lives. But, today’s parents are generally better at understanding what is lacking in their children’s development and are prioritizing differently for the children we are raising now.

For the past 150 years, our educational system has focused on “the 3 R’s”, hard skills, memorizing dates, formulas and vocab words, while in the 21st Century, the world suddenly changed. All of a sudden, millions of jobs have become antiquated and disappeared. To paraphrase the Global Markets Institute, as automation became cost-effective, the bulk of the workforce has shifted from ‘doing’ the work (HARD SKILLS) to organizing, coordinating and supervising the increasingly complex resources behind it (SOFT SKILLS). While there are currently an estimated 7.4 million unemployed workers, there are 5.6 million job openings. That’s a huge SKILLS gap, and according to employers, it’s not the hard skills that’s the problem, it’s the lack of soft skills of the entering workforce.

According to the Partnership for 21st Century Learning (p21.org), which is comprised of Fortune 500 business leaders and progressive educators, the top skills sought by today’s employers are:

1. Oral Communication (great texters and tweeters, but not great face-to-face)
2. Teamwork & Collaboration (great on their own, not so much when working with others)
3. Professionalism & Work Ethic (personal satisfaction reigns supreme- YOLO!)
4. Written Communication (most of today’s teachers have literally given up)
5. Critical Thinking & Problem Solving (Parents micro-manage their children to the point in which they can’t do things for themselves)

Add to this picture that 30% of students entering 4-year college programs DROP OUT after their first year, and only 56% graduate within SIX years. Why is this? Besides financial burdens, see the big five p21 skills above that our kids are lacking, especially #5 when Mommy or Daddy aren’t around to fix their problems!

So where can we help young people find these skills? Schools are focused on standardized tests, Families run their children from obligation to obligation, plus homework, and the allure of xBox, YouTube, Instagram and the DVR. Where can children experience a “Step Back in Time” to a more care-free environment like we experienced as kids, unencumbered by technology, where people interact by actually speaking to one another, face to face, outside amongst nature, in a supportive environment that fosters the development of skills that employers are looking for in the 21st Century, away from their over-loving and ever-hovering parents? At SUMMER CAMP!

Summer Camps have existed for over 100 years, but have become more important for the development of children than EVER before. Children work together in groups, led by energized staff who lead by example, forced to communicate and compromise with one another, conquering their fears, pushing beyond perceived limits, making and keeping friendships, and learning an abundance of new skills (hard and soft).

The American Camp Association estimates that 11 million children attend Summer Camp annually, which leaves another 30 million who do not. Why is this? What holds back the uninitiated parent from enrolling their children to Camp? After growing a successful program in an area with no prior culture of Camp, I present to you my top three excuses:

1. “Too much money.” Of course, this is a perceived belief, as there are camps in all price ranges, and if the camp experience was valued as much as “camp people” attest (priceless), these families could stay at a smaller hotel at Disney, or make other choices to give their children a summer camp experience. Many adults say that they learned more about life at Camp than they did at College, at a fraction of the price!
2. “I just want my kids to relax during the summer.” As they should, and boredom (without screens) is an important component of growth. After a couple of days immersed in a quality Camp program though, children find it very relaxing and enjoyable. They can play video games, stare at their phones and sleep late in the time they will still have at home.
3. “I want to spend time with my children.” That’s wonderful, but will you be providing meaningful opportunities that teach your children important character and life skills this summer, or just entertaining them? Camp can do both!

At Summer Camp, children take advantage of the unique “out of school learning environment” that is able to teach the vital life skills that traditional schools can not- Skills that allow children to grow into happy, successful, contributing members of society. In a world today that often seems to de-value virtues like kindness and acceptance, Camps create a culture that makes it cool to be kind. As parents, we do our best to provide a strong foundation for our children in our homes, like nutrient-rich soil for our little seedlings. Summer Camp provides an environment for our little flowers to flourish and bloom, outside in the fresh air and sunshine of the summer!

Andy Pritikin is the owner/director of Liberty Lake Day Camp in Bordentown, NJ, founding partner of Everwood Day Camp in Sharon, MA, and President of the American Camp Association NY/NJ. [email protected], 

As a first time parent, I’m often astounded by how fast the hours of the day go. No matter how hard I try, between work, trips to day care, chores, food shopping, preparing meals and most importantly spending time with the kids (wait, don’t forget sleep and shower!), there just never seems to be enough time during the day to get everything done in the quality way I want to. I know, I know… I’ve got to let some of it go, and I certainly have (you should see my closets), but I continue to be troubled by one particular parenting challenge. How do I make sure that we connect as a family every day?

I’ve become fascinated by “The Family Dinner.” Not just because it was a tradition that I grew up with (some of the time), but because of the benefits that the family dinner can bring to children. There are countless studies that show that having a family dinner can deliver significant emotional and psychological benefits. In fact, there are studies that show increased resiliency and self-esteem connected to the simple (and sometimes not so simple) act of eating dinner together as a family.

As a Summer Camp Director… resiliency and self esteem are kind of “my thing.” I work year round with an incredible team, developing programs to help build 21st century skills like these through the Summer Camp experience. However, I am always looking for ways to help our Camp families extend this learning outside of Camp. So, naturally when I read this, I was intrigued by the power of a family dinner. What a great way for families to connect to each other and continue the learning done at Camp in their own home… every day of the year (or even just a few days a week).

I believe, however, that the success of the family dinner isn’t just getting everyone there or even what to eat. I believe that in order to maximize the benefits of the time spent as a family around the dinner table there is a critical factor that most families may not address…. What on earth do we actually talk about? How do we take the family time beyond “how was your day?” to meaningful conversation that will help shape more confident and contributing members of the family and greater community? A lofty goal for an hour a day I know… but it is something I believe can be done and something my husband, Dane and I have set as a priority in our parenting of our twins.

Recently I came across an incredible resource and encourage everyone to check out: The Family Dinner Project. The site contains countless pages full of specific and developmentally appropriate conversation topics, along with fun dinner games, recipes and a fantastic FAQ section written by founding member and local psychologist Anne Fishel, PhD. It is quickly becoming one of my favorite parenting websites to date, and also has a tremendous amount of practical information that can be carried over to my life as a parent (as well as my life as a Camp Director). It has given me the answer’s I’m seeking and hope that you too will find it helpful. Also, FYI, Dr. Fishel has recently published a book called Home for Dinner: Mixing Food, Fun, and Conversation for a Happier Family and Healthier Kids that is to be released in January. You can pre-order it on Amazon. I anticipate it will be a great resource for all parents searching to bring families together each day…. and a fun fact? The book’s forward was written by our consulting psychologist and friend, Michael Thompson, Phd.

What routines/traditions does your family practice around mealtime? Do you have other resources you’ve found helpful in planning your family dinners?

In this piece, Friedman interviews Laszlo Bock, the senior vice president of people operations for Google — the guy in charge of hiring for one of the world’s most successful companies, and a model for companies in the 21st century.

Bock states that Google has determined that “G.P.A.’s and test scores are worthless as a criteria for hiring… We found that they don’t predict anything.” He also noted that the “proportion of people without any college education at Google has increased over time” — now as high as 14 percent on some teams. This is an interesting proposition, given that I am currently looking at colleges for my daughter, most of which retail at well over $50,000 per year…Bock tells us that for ALL POSITIONS AT GOOGLE, they look for five “hiring attributes” (character traits) which have nothing to do with GPA, SAT scores, or college alma mater: “the No. 1 thing we look for is general cognitive ability, and it’s not I.Q. It’s learning ability. It’s the ability to process on the fly. It’s the ability to pull together disparate bits of information.” Thinking quick on your feet, being able to take various pieces of knowledge and put it into a tangible plan. This is stuff that campers and staff learn through experience at summer camp each and every day- especially at Everwood, with our dynamic camp program full of group activities and electives.