What makes a place special and unique?

We just got back from a big trip to the UK visiting both England and Scotland.  It was fun to see a place that I know well through the eyes of my kids.  They were amazed by simple things like brick houses and fields full of sheep! To them we had entered a magical new world where people do things differently, talk a bit funny and one that seemed like it was a million miles from home.  For me there was a renewed comfort in the familiar culture and ways of life.

At camp you don’t need to go thousands of miles to find a place that has its own unique culture.  The Runoia bubble is a magical place where we all feel removed from the world outside.  It is filled with traditions and places that are only known to those that attend, they are a mystery to outsiders but as comfortable as an old sweater to those inside.  We create traditions that have value and meaning to us some that have persisted through generations of campers others that are more recent yet just as treasured.  The things that make our camp special and unique may be small and simple or complex and steeped in tradition.  They might include: watching the sunset over the lake at campfire, getting to write your name in the boathouse when you graduate, wearing blue and white and often just simply being a Runoia girl and having a place to belong to.

We value our Runoia culture and quickly welcome in newcomers so that they too may feel the magic.  We pass down the traditions that we hold dear and help future generations revere our own special place in the world.