Through the eyes of a Crossroads newcomer: seeing summer camp and all its connections

It was a blazing hot Sunday morning in June as Crossroads staff welcomed campers to our departure point at Tech Boston Academy in Dorchester. I expected that I might see the tears and nervousness of the youngest campers as they prepared to leave home for summer camp. There was some nervousness, to be sure, but more than anything what I saw was joy and giddy excitement on day one; the campers couldn’t get into the buses fast enough…and the parents and caregivers were the ones having trouble!

I spent the next week visiting camp: watching the pools at Camp Wing come to life with the sound of play and laughter, talking quietly with a young camper who told me he was “looking at nature,” pointing out to me the various discoveries he’d made on just his first day. “That plant’s scary,” he said, pointing to a holly bush, its spiny leaves shining in the hot sun. “And, look where this is growing!” He pointed to moss covering the bark at the base of a tree. On that first day, he swam in the pool, fished in the pond, and took his first trip out on the pond in a paddle boat. At lunch, he was the first one up on his chair to dance to the music that filled the room, and he was quickly joined by his peers from every village in camp.

At Camp Lapham in Ashby, our C5 Leaders shared inspirational quotations with one another, sitting in silence between speakers in the peace of the dappled sunlight of late afternoon in the woods. Four girls shared a remarkable rendition of “The Cup Song” to loud applause, and the brave stood before their peers and told jokes eliciting affectionate groans. Teens worked in groups later playing games that tested their leadership skills of collaboration, communication, and planning. The dining hall was quieter that night than the one at Camp Wing, but it was alive nonetheless with the laughter and chatter of a community after a long, fun day.

I had the opportunity to watch and connect with our Medallions–our most experienced campers–at the Actively Changing Tomorrow (A.C.T.) Now Summit at UMASS/Dartmouth as they prepared for the final projects they have developed and will explore throughout their senior year of high school. Here, the leaders wrestled with questions of importance to them–equity in the COVID landscape they grew up in, and the impact of inequities on longer-term outcomes for students. Each took turns leading their peers through exercises and thought experiments designed to bring the key issues forth for further exploration. They plotted out their hoped-for futures and planned the pathways to achieving those futures. My conversations with this inspirational group reminded me that this generation of young people is eager to get out into the world and make it work.

The presence of laughter and camaraderie, of connection, music, challenge and celebration, punctuates the impact of Crossroads on the lives of campers and staff alike. The community sings through the laughter and joy that are omnipresent across our spaces, and I look forward to being in those spaces every chance I get. By next month’s end, over 1,000 young people will have experienced a Crossroads summer, inspiring them to pay it forward as they go beyond here as valued members of our community, into a world that needs all they bring to the places they enter.

Ned Parsons is President and CEO of Crossroads and can be reached at ned@crossroadsma.org. Ned joined the Crossroads community in June 2024.