Value of Friendship at Summer CampPosted by on January 30, 2023

There are nine Fernwood Cove Values.  Each year the Fernwood Cove Directors choose a value to guide the camp community and help them strengthen their connection to each other and to camp.  The 2023 Fernwood Cove Value is Friendship.  Friendship is the most common reason campers return to camp each summer.   The value of friendship at summer camp is truly invaluable.

Summer 2023 marks the 25th summer of Fernwood Cove.  Given the significance of friendship in the summer camp experience  we felt it was the perfect value to help us celebrate this significant milestone.  So as we celebrate 25 summers of Fernwood Cove we also celebrate the value of friendship in the Extraordinary World.  As we all know, camp friends are the best friends!

The Value of Friendship

There are few places or times in life like our days at sleepaway camp.  No matter if you’re a camper, a CIT, or a staff member, your days at camp are truly unique and magical.  The value of friendship is intwined in all aspects of Fernwood Cove.  It’s in our activities and bunk life.  Friendship thrives in our dance parties.  And it shines most significantly in our moments of struggle.

No other place do you live, participate in activities, face struggles, overcome differences, and bond of the silliest of adventures like you do at summer camp.  Fernwood Cove girls grow independently while supporting other campers to do the same.  Friendships forged in this manner create bonds that last a lifetime.  Campers return summer after summer to reconnect and live camp life with their friends.  And when they leave camp those connections hold strong, no matter the physical distance between them.

Friendships Forged in Camp Days

Fernwood Cove girls may not truly understand the magic within their camp friendships.  As they grow older this awareness grows and develops.  Many of our Senior Campers and alumni comment about how their camp friends are “different.”  They can simply be themselves and not worry about judgement.  As Fernwood Cove girls become young adults they begin to understand that their friendships forged in camp days are some of the most important relationships they have.

Alumni reconnect in college and become roommates or sorority sisters.  Alumni return to camp as Fernwood Cove Counselors and strengthen existing friendships or forge new ones with those alumni they weren’t as connected to.  Our young adult alumni are bridesmaids in each others weddings.  They provide accommodations when camp friends are traveling.  And serve as the most amazing tour guides!  For staff who become friends while working at camp those relationships end up in transcontinental wedding invitations.  Or even being the bride and groom!  The magic of camp is sprinkled into the relationships built each summer.  The end result are hundreds, if not thousands, of the most tried and true friendships anyone could ask for.

Twenty-five Summers of Friendship

This summer marks Fernwood Cove’s 25th summer.  Twenty-five summers of activities and adventures.  Twenty-five summers of friendship and memories.  We are excited to celebrate the 25th summer of camp with our Fernwood Cove campers this summer.  We are also excited to welcome alumni back to 350 Island Pond Road for our 25th Summer Alumni Women’s Weekend.  Reconnecting at camp happens for each person that returns, no matter how old they are or how long they’ve been away.

We have so many things to celebrate in our 25th summer.  The growth and development of camp.  The impact Fernwood Cove has had on campers, CITs, and staff.  And the friendships, all of the friendships, that have been forged during our days of summer.  These friendships keep us connected across the world and across the years.  They create so much of the magic of camp.  The value of friendship at summer camp is truly invaluable during the summer…and far beyond the camp gates.