What Makes Bryn Mawr so Special?

It is only normal for us to reflect on the summer all months, especially this month as our Winter Reunion will be in a few weeks. Below are excerpts from a letter that was send to us by a 4 year staff member. We hope you enjoy it.

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Working at Camp Bryn Mawr has been an experience that reached beyond all expectations. Here, I have been able to forge relationships that have lasted years and create new friendships every summer. It’s amazing to think that I can travel the United States or even the world and have people I love everywhere I go. That is something I owe to working at this remarkable summer camp. Bryn Mawr has turned into nothing short of my summer home, and the people there, my summer family.

At Bryn Mawr you are given the unique privilege to work in an all-girls setting. This is what makes this place so special. At camp you can see a literal transformation in the girls you work with. They step off the bus in June and immediately feel more like themselves. The atmosphere gives them a place to feel comfortable, a place where you don’t have to look in a mirror or constantly work to impress anybody but yourself.king at Camp Bryn Mawr has been an experience that reached beyond all expectations. Here, I have been able to forge relationships that have lasted years andcreate new friendships every summer. It’s amazing to think that I can travel the United States or even the world and have people I love everywhere I go. That is something I owe to working at this remarkable summer camp. Bryn Mawr has turned into nothing short of my summer home, and the people there, my summer family.

Working here has allowed me to help these young women become comfortable in their own skin, make new friends and excel at the things they love. They are given the chance to branch off from their school year expectations, and you are given the opportunity to help them find their path. To be a part of that gives me such a sense of accomplishment and purpose.

I have fallen in love with Bryn Mawr and everything that makes it so special. It has transformed me as much as it has transformed every girl who attends.

Learning from Each Other

As a camp director, people often ask me what I do “during the year”. One of my favorite things to do when I am not directing our summer sleepaway camp is to attend educational seminars. I learn ways to give girls the best possible camp experience, and often take away pearls of wisdom to share with parents.

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend two interesting programs. Rachel Simmons spoke on “Empowering Girls to Make Real Friends, Communicate Honestly and Directly and be True to Themselves”. Girls need to talk about their feelings. Adults need to ask about their feelings, and then validate them. A traditional all girls camp is a safe place for girls to practice sharing with each other how they feel. When we practice kicking a soccer ball, we get better. When we practice talking about our feelings, we can get better too. I liked this acronym that Rachel Simmons uses to help girls express how they are feeling or how to solve a problem:

G = Gather your choices- What are some things that I can say or do?

I =   I choose- What will you do?

R =  Reasons are- Why did you decide that?

L =  List the outcomes- What might happen if I choose this option?

Next, I heard Jessica Weiner speak about “Today’s Tweens, Teens, and Everythingin Between.” Jess is considered to be a “go to authority” on girls and self confidence. She serves as Dove’s Global Ambassador for Self Esteem, creating content and curriculum for countries around the world. She reiterated that our tweens and teens are living in a digital world, and this makes real relationships more important than ever. As adults, we have a responsibility to remind our children that every user, friend, or follower is a human being. I liked some of her other thoughts:

  • Pause before you post. Make sure your child understands that once they post, it is permanent.
  • Tech Parking Lot- Everyone parks their device in a “parking lot” for a designated amount of time. Talk to your children about what you did during that time and what it actually feels like to disconnect.

Camp is a 7-week Tech Parking Lot! It gives girls the chance to learn to communicate with each other in a deeper way.