As a family, we have been working on this essay for several weeks. Here it is:
THE KINGSWOOD PROMISE
“No boy slips through the cracks at Kingswood.” That was my opening remark to the staff in 1985 and remains the foundation of every camp philosophical conversation. 1985 was not my initial year at camp. My camp days began in 1951 and have continued for practically every summer since. It is fair to say the “Kingswood Promise” is well entrenched.By “No boy slips through the cracks at Kingswood,” we mean that campers will be safe both physically and emotionally under our watchful eye.Of the two, the physical part is by far the easier to achieve. Every activity follows a “Plan A” script that has been designed, tweaked and approved by the camp’s administrators.Today, the number of leaders has expanded well beyond the camp’s founders to include a middle management team of more than a dozen dedicated educators.“Plan A” always evokes safety first and fun second. Our counselors are trained to follow strict protocols for all activities, including contact sports like lacrosse and rainy day hikes.Life being what it is, however, “Plan A” sometimes has to evolve to “Plan B” which, too, has been anticipated beforehand and with a safe outcome predicted. There is never a “Plan C,” or an unauthorized diversion from time-tested approaches.Any camp director who is speaking the truth to families acknowledges it is the emotional well being of his charges that keeps him awake at night. No organization invested in young people can prevent kids from sometimes saying and doing hurtful things to others. “No boy slips through the cracks at Kingswood” means we are always alert to signals from campers when things are not going so well for them at the moment.How do we learn about boys’ hidden feelings? It starts with my personal job description. I am the guy who wanders the property all day long, just observing the boys. They call me “Mr. Wiff”, a play on my last name. Those daily photo blogs from the Director are proof of my personal involvement!At meals, I stand by the dining room door, welcoming boys and looking for that sparkle of eye and skip to step. When those qualities are diminished or absent, I notice and act. Immediately, the boy’s counselors and appropriate administrators are consulted. We make it a priority to diagnose the cause of the unhappiness and create a plan of action. When deemed necessary, parents are contacted. Most of the time, happily, we get to the bottom of things without much ado.But, no philosophy is the work of a single person. The incredible passion of my family has been a driving force in the camp’s philosophical evolution over the years.Read their personally written blurbs on the Kingswood web site and you’ll soon learn how fortunate I have been.These folks miss very little!But even then, a strong family commitment is not enough. The Kingswood Staff Manual opens with this statement: “The staff is everything.” So, how do we make that work? A fair question, the answer to which also came to me in 1985, our first summer at the Kingswood helm: Grow our own counselors.Way back then, we started pegging young campers who seemed to have a special attachment to camp. Fast forward all these summers and staff loyalty is undeniably the strongest tenant of our philosophy.Over the past several years, the cumulative Kingswood summers of staff has been in the 700+ years range. Think about that! These folks have not only been trained to be on the lookout for the emotional well being of kids, but they also have experienced it – first hand and at Kingswood.
Nothing gives me greater pleasure than remarking to a group of young counselors, “Make this summer’s camp environment a happy and inclusive one for the boys, just like it was for you,”and receiving in turn an all-knowing smile and a “Yes, sir, Mr. Wiff!Thus, when we say “No boy slips through the cracks at Kingswood,” we really mean it. And, when we get that very rare phone call to the contrary, our instant reply has been and always will be “We are on the case at once.”That’s a promise!
