by Jake Sorenson, PhD | Aug 8, 2019 | Camp to Congregation, Site Visits
“Merry Christmas, everyone!” A cheer went up from the gathering of 180 elementary-aged campers and 24 SpringHill camp staff members as the snow floated down from the sky. It was late June, and the heat index was near 100 degrees in the Indianapolis suburbs, but that...
by Jake Sorenson, PhD | Aug 8, 2019 | Camp to Congregation, Site Visits
“Here, let me help you.” My tour guide was an 8-year-old girl that I had gotten to talk with during lunch. She was a camp pro, in her fourth summer at SpringHill Day Camp, and she was guiding me through the essential camp ritual of tie-dying. Everyone colors a...
by Jake Sorenson, PhD | Aug 22, 2016 | The Logic of Camp
It was halftime, and we were behind. It was my junior year on the high school football team, and we had to win in order to make the playoffs. We could not seem to get our offense going, and our team’s offensive coordinator stood before our sweaty, exhausted team. He...
by Jake Sorenson, PhD | Jul 27, 2016 | Camp Research, The Logic of Camp
There is a lot of hateful talk on our television screens and on our social media sites of late. We need camps to teach us how to be respectful to one another. Our society is experiencing an unhealthy dosage of disrespectful dialogue and rhetoric of despair. Simply...
by Jake Sorenson, PhD | Jun 29, 2016 | Stories from Camp
He was not quite in a panic, but there was clear concern in his voice when my brother called on Sunday afternoon. He had just dropped off my niece for her first week ever of summer camp at Bethel Horizons near Madison, WI. He had met the director and had a nice...
