Camp Kupugani Blog
We’re in Charge of Our Own Happiness
At our multicultural summer camp, we’re always mindful about intentional ways to empower girl campers and boy campers, as well as how we can better our own lives. I came across an old article the other day (a blog post by Stephanie Jacobs, citing the work of M.J. Ryan, executive coach and author of “The Happiness Makeover”–the link has since disappeared). It described the link between positive psychology and happiness. The main takeaway is that, whatever your innate happiness level, you can cultivate additional happiness by acting and thinking positively. […]
Progressive Camp Program
I got an inquiry today from a prospective staff member wanting to get a sense of our Camp Kupugani philosophy and approach to multicultural community-building, and what kinds of skills camp teaches kids in order to help them work through differences and address inequalities. I was excited for the question. The cool thing is that–at Camp Kupugani, we uniquely combine the fun of the camp experience with an empowerment program, to allow our campers to have fun while changing their world. As far as the kids know, they have a […]
7 Positive Psychology Parenting Tips
We’ve talked a bit in the past about the importance of positive psychology—basically, the more we can focus on the positives of things rather than the negatives, the more happiness will be created. This is also a technique we try to emphasize at our multicultural summer camp, and something that empowers our girl campers and boy campers. The positive psychology applies quite a bit to parenting. An old article I recently came across again does a good job of summarizing some good parenting techniques that can really help. Below are […]
Resolutions You Can Keep
Hoping to provide some early empowerment tips from our multicultural camp, here’s some early borrowed advice for 2013! As 2013 begins, many folks want to make resolutions that they can keep. But that’s a hard one since they so often fail. Sociologist Christine Carter offers some useful advice on her website on how to make resolutions that will stick. pick just one resolution that research shows will make you happier Some good options to choose from… Spend more time with friends. Study after study shows that we tend to be happier […]
Final Friday!
“There is no time left for anything but to make peace work a dimension of our every waking activity.” -Elise Boulding We spent two weeks focusing on modules such as positive body image and social awareness, and now it’s time to take our knowledge out into the world! With each other’s support and love, we have learned to communicate and trust each other. With tomorrow’s departure from camp, we will go into the world as empowered women and as world changers.
We Love Olympics Day!
After a well-deserved sleep and energizing breakfast, our campers headed out to use teamwork skills like communication and trust to overcome obstacles! Later we all participated in mud tug-o-war, potato sack races, and dam jumping in honor of today being Olympics Day! We finished the day off with a whole camp game of sharks and minnows!
Backwards Wednesday!
Started backwards day with the goodnight song and ended it with a delicious breakfast. Today returning campers led a ceremony to welcome the rest of the girls into the camp community! The ceremony included thoughtful poems, gifts, and a wonderful song. Its great to see how good of friends the campers have become with each other, and how much they genuinely care about each other. 🙂 Keep Up to Date Have access to incredible articles and keep up to date with all Camp Kupugani life here!
Terrific Tuesday! – August 6, 2018
Another great day at camp! Started the morning with “relax & swim” earlybird and during team time, we wrapped up our body image module. The afternoon meant crate stacking, archery, pool, and chill time…we canoed and Zumba-d too. After Natasha’s delicious homemade lasagna (so good), we had a thought-provoking discussion about body image and wrapped up a busy day with all-camp volleyball tourney, Smores campfire, night hikes and sleeping under the stars! Woo hoo! Another empowering day!
Magnificent Monday!
As we get farther into the second week of this session, the girls have begun to really value and trust each other. Tonight was the untalent show and dance, where the girls sang, danced, and performed skits for the entire camp. Performing took courage and preparation, and every single performance was breath-taking!
Cabin Quality Day!
After sleeping-in and a cabin picnic, the whole camp participated in dam jumping, mud volleyball, canoeing, and swimming in our very own waterfall! Later each cabin performed an awesome skit and song for the entire camp! Keep Up to Date Have access to incredible articles and keep up to date with all Camp Kupugani life here!
Friday the 13th only means good luck at camp!
In arts and crafts, these young ladies built the very bench that they are sitting on! The rain didn’t prevent us from having a blast at a hip-hop dance class and arts & crafts! In honor of positive body image day, all of the mirrors at camp have been covered up and replaced with inspirational messages! The girls are embracing the opportunity to love themselves and each other without any judgments.
Teamwork Thursday!
This is the quote of the day, which we discuss every morning as an entire camp. With early morning Zumba classes and late afternoon canoeing, every girl is becoming more confident and empowered to try challenging activities and make new friends. Additionally, teams grew closer as we wrote and shared poems about our diverse backgrounds.