Have you been a camper or sent your children to camp? If so, we suspect you’ve found it challenging to put what we do with our participants into words. You’re not alone. Have you been wondering what Camp Lookout or Crystalaire is all about? Is...
Read moreOn Identity Based Leadership
On Identity Based Leadership If you’ve been on a Crystalaire trip you know we talk about a lot of boxes. We draw them in the sand, lay them out in rocks and twigs, or draw them on small portable whiteboards. And then, often, we break them. It’s...
Read moreFrom the directors – End of season letter
Dear Families of Lookout and Crystalaire, We want to thank you for another wonderful summer season at Camp Lookout and Crystalaire Adventures! This summer had many memorable moments, and we are grateful we got to share and create them with your...
Read moreOn Agency and Working with Youth
Perhaps one of the biggest bummers I can remember from being a teenager was feeling that my emotions were not valid, being made to feel invalid or just young and naȉve,’ as some might say. I was a gawky, semi- (or not so semi) dorky kid; I...
Read moreLeading by Example
A few summers ago a group of older campers approached me. They had created a new game—Empires—and wanted to play it for evening program. I sat down with them and we talked over the rules and how they wanted their game to look and feel. Empires is...
Read moreCreativity over Conformity
Almost three months ago to the day I woke up, brushed my teeth, and put my clothes on backwards. It was Reverse Day, a camp-wide, camper-created theme day. We started our day with Evening Program, ate a delicious breakfast of waffles around 6:00...
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