Life at Camp

Hold the Summer for Ransom & Kidnap the Memories

After two fantastic girls sessions, an empowering boys session, and two great mother daughter weekends, our Kupugani camp season is over. To think our camp won’t be filled with the sounds of laughter, shouts of joy, tears of homesickness and growth, and of course without campers belting out Kupugani’s own version of “Thrift Shop” for another 300 days is unsettling. There were so many lessons learned at camp–lessons campers gleaned during teams about diversity, leadership, or positive self-image–and also in cabins and the camp community in general regarding how to […]

Mother Nurture Daughter Bond Blog

This past weekend, camp was filled one last time for the 2013 summer with almost 80 moms and daughters for Kupugani’s annual Mother-Daughter Weekend. It was an amazing weekend. Moms and daughters participated in Teams activities, camptivities, and enjoyed one another’s company and the beautiful forestry our camp has to offer. The experiences had with campers during the Kupugani sessions are moving and impactful on their own; experiencing those same activities alongside the mothers of the girls impacted our staff greatly. We truly saw the strong impact and love our […]

It’s Alright to Cry

During camp this summer, we post pictures daily, so that “childsick” parents can get their daily fix of vicariously enjoying their child’s camp experience. Most of the time, that strategy also gives us as campadministrators the side benefit of minimizing concerned parent phone calls, since folks get to enjoy the picture-worth-a-thousand-words pleasure of seeing their child’s enjoyment. Every now and then, our picture posting inadvertently causes a parent concern, such as once when a picture showing happy campers on a challenge hike also showed a crying camper in the background. […]

Mother Daughter Weekend

“A daughter may outgrow your lap, but she will never outgrow your heart.” This evening, as we enjoy the arrival of the first weekend’s worth of our dynamic mother-daughter campers, we reflect on the verity of that quote. We’re looking forward to an empowering weekend!

Not the End

“The world is round so that friendship may encircle it.” – Pierre Teilhard de Chardin Each day at Kupugani begins with a quote. It seemed only fitting to end our “camp recap” blog entries with a quote. Over in the prior two weeks, our Kupugani boys learned many lessons during various Teams Activities and Evening Programs. Among those lessons were topics of diversity, leadership, conflict resolution, self-expression, creativity, and the like. We role model and teach the message and incorporate the acts of being world changers, but what makes someone a […]

Mixed Emotions at Final Campfire

Sitting around the final campfire, we hear the crackle of the fire, see the swatting of flies, hear the chirps of crickets, see the smiles appear on young faces and often times hear a faint eruption of laughter. Those are all sights and sounds readily available to our ears and eyes, but what about those feelings we cannot easily hear or see? It is a mixture of emotions. Campers are happy to return home to friends, family, technology and long showers. They are also sad to leave a place that […]

Kupugani Olympics! August 2013 Edition

Even as our boys session winds down, excitement and enthusiasm is peaking here at Camp Kupugani! The thoughts of going home are somewhere in boys’ minds, but the fun and activities we are having are at the forefront! Today was exceptionally fun as we had our Kupugani Olympics! Starting the Olympics was a traditional ceremony where teams come up with a chant to shout with the mightiest of voices! Then campers wasted no time beginning with a game of Sand Volleyball/Newcomb, then Relays which include sack races, a three-legged race […]

Untalent Show Fun

Today was full of excitement with a wide range of camptivities after a good morning of team building. The boys enjoyed fishing, pool, dam jumping, mud volleyball, and preparing for the Untalent Show! Campers are trying new activities and trying to create the full camp experience before heading back home! Tonight’s evening activity was Kupugani’s Untalent Show where campers showcased some of their strengths and skills to everyone. It ranged from an origami showcase to piano playing to breakdancing and singing. The Untalent Show is a great opportunity to see […]

Camptivities Galore!

After a morning of challenging team building activities, we had an afternoon of camptivities galore. We had tie-dye, cratestacking, and a full camp challenge hike! How exciting! The campers delighted in also having another full camp soccer game…not a clamored-for rematch between staff and campers, but two teams divided between all of camp! The boys continue to enjoy camp more than ever, even as they are challenged in teams and cabins to use good conflict resolution skills and use their resilience and empowerment skills. The camp rush is at an […]

Electronic-free Fun!

What do Robin Hood and Tim the Toolman Taylor have in common?! THEY ALL PARTICIPATED AT CAMP KUPUGANI! We had bench building and archery yesterday, along with some rock climbing and frisbee golf! It was all fun and games at camp even continuing in the evening with the Gameboree evening program where the boys came up with their own games, shared them with the whole group, and then chose one to play as an entire camp! It was an exciting time and creativity was high yesterday when the boys pushed […]

Cabin Day Empowerment

So much excitement for a day devoted to bonding with cabin mates and counselors! Sunday was an excellent opportunity to learn even more about one another while having fun as well! Cabins took fun pictures together, went on hikes to varied beautiful locations around camp, and made up a skit and song to share with the rest of camp later on in the evening! Another highlight of the day for campers were the fun cabin activities planned. All of camp canoes in the river and lake, then there was time […]

Fun with All Camp Soccer

The annual all camp soccer game was the focal point of today along with it being Seniors Run Camp Day, where our senior campers took the lead at camp with songs, making announcements, and other activities! At the big game, soccer skills were exhibited throughout by counselors and campers alike! Celebratory dances were performed with each goal from both teams. It was a close game, ultimately resulting in a hard fought tie. The motivation and fire burning in each of the participants was invigorating and inspiring. We can’t wait for […]