Lifelong Skills Archives

Camp Runoia’s tagline is ‘building lifelong skills’ and we have sure done a lot of that over our past weeks of camp. It has been amazing to see our campers confidently engaging in all aspects of camp life. They have made the most of new opportunities, developed skills and deepened their friendships.

There have been so many Fine Maine Days to play and learn in.

We are so grateful to have had this time together on Great Pond.

Our camp bubble has been a safe and loving place to be ourselves and build community with a diverse group of people.

Some of our transferable life skills:

Managing our own belongings
Getting places on time with the right clothing and equipment
Resolving conflicts and disappointments
Making healthy food choices
Working towards a goal
Navigating all kinds of relationships with all ages of people
Better communication skills
Being rewarded for consistent good practice
Building grit and resiliency
Practicing to gain better skill mastery
Being a role model
Learning to advocate for ourselves in a positive way
Getting better at cleaning
Knowing what we like or don’t like
Being able to say ‘no thanks’
Finding space in a busy day for quiet time and reflection
Getting restorative sleep
Making choices for ourselves
Being flexible and adaptable
Following a schedule
Being leaders
Taking care of our personal care
Taking safe risks

We hope that when everyone gets home the difference will be noticeable, not only that we may have grown a little taller but also that we stand taller. We are a little bolder, better organized and more engaged in how we move through our own lives.

Camp is the best place to grow and we are so glad that everyone of all ages had the opportunity to do so this summer in a safe and fun place. Camp Runoia stays with us as we move home and back to school.

Summer Camp provides Social and Emotional Intelligence — Million Step Race – All Levels Welcome!

I’m fascinated how I learn from old ideas revisited or from re-reading concepts I’ve thought about before. Maybe my grandfather (Roland H. Cobb of Cobb Summer Camps) summed it up with his dry humor, “I like reading the same books over again; I never remember how they end.”.

Today’s tweet from SCOPE was Morris Cohen’s article: The Social and Emotional Long-Term Benefits of Summer Camp. He wrote it for the Mental Health column of dnainfo.com. Cohen’s article was one of those re-reads for me. Even though I know and remember the ending, I loved reading about it along the way; the part about Daniel Goleman’s Social Intelligence and how summer camp helps campers build skills in Social Intelligence. Here’s a snipet – I quote Morris Cohen’s article:

Another Opportunity to Develop Social Intelligence

According to psychologist Daniel Goleman, who coined the term, social intelligence is broken into two parts:

Social awareness is the ability to monitor our inner world — our thoughts and feelings. Social awareness refers to qualities including empathy, attunement to others and social cognition.

Social facility, on the other hand, refers to how we use our internal social awareness to interact with individuals and groups successfully, such as self-presentation, influence and concern for others.

Camp is a key opportunity for kids to develop both sides of their social intelligence by offering them a way to practice becoming adept at socializing by offering them access to many new people and environments.

The more children can practice their social intelligence, the more smoothly they can incorporate the skills for the rest of their lives.

Summer Camp provides time and space for campers to process, engage and facilitate their own discussions. — Senior Campers Chill Out Together

Thanks Morris Cohen for sharing this article with readers at dnainfo.com. We are sharing with our readers because we at Camp Runoia agree wholeheartedly! This upcoming summer will be another platform for our 220 girls to stretch and grow and add to their life skills. Camp Runoia – Building Lifelong Skills!

Tag: Lifelong Skills

Camp Runoia – we really are ‘building lifelong skills’