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Camp ChampionsMarble Falls, Texas
February 7, 2013
Driving into Champions we knew we were driving into a whole new kind of camping. A private camp with a life changing youth development mission Champions is an impressive operation. Like all of the camps we visit Champions knows that they are the best, but something unique about Champions was that Steve Baskin the owner is on a mission to prove the importance of camping to the world. As seen on TedX Steve talks about how camping is the perfect environment for the development of social skills and leadership qualities. Camps have marketed themselves as fun and only fun but what camps give to kids is way more important and crucial to their success than that and it is how to market these facts to parents that obsesses Steve. After having the educational opportunity to meet with Steve, we walked around with Erec, the Boy’s Camp Director. Erec is so knowledgeable about camp and about youth development. He also shared with us some of the traditions that make Camp Champions sacred to so many campers. That night Erec also invited us to the Teepee’s for a bonfire. This space is reserved for boy’s ceremonies at camp and we felt privileged and excited to have a window into what so many campers experience each summer.
-Laura