For many people, the approach of a new year brings with it the tradition of setting some time aside to reflect on the previous year and plan for the next. Whether you call it resolutions, intentions, goal-setting, or any other phrase you choose, it’s all the same. It’s an opportunity to focus on the next twelve months and how you want to live your life.
But it doesn’t have to be just at the end of a calendar year when we take this time. It can happen at the “end” of anything, whenever you decide it’s timely, whether it’s finishing a thought-provoking book or closing out a school year. Here at Keystone Camp, we take this opportunity at the end of every session.
After our closing campfire, we all quietly head down to the swim lake with our lighted candles, where each cabin takes its turn sharing its wish for our camp community and “sending” it out to the world. It’s an opportunity for the girls to take what they have just experienced with them as they continue down the trail to their next adventure.
Here’s to you, our Keystone girls, and our wishes for you in 2025!
My wish for all Keystone girls, in 2025, is for them to bring the whimsey and the fun they experience at camp home with them. For me, there is nothing more incredible than the joy that we experience at camp, every day! Who says you can’t live every day just like that? I think that you can absolutely be your whimsical, joyful camp self, whenever you want. Show her off to the world! You deserve it.
Catherine Lemel
My wish for you is health, happiness, and joy in 2025! Also, to spend more time face-to-face with family and friends, connecting and building relationships while spending less time on screens. Get out and enjoy!
Eleanor Mathews
With every new year, we have an opportunity to discover, explore, and try something new. At Keystone, each summer is full of possibilities. Maybe this summer you will embark on an adventure through our trips program: exploring the Blue Ridge Parkway or Pisgah National Forest. Perhaps you will try gymnastics, drama, or dance for the first time and gain new skills that you can display on performance night. This summer may be the one that you discover a new friendship, finding someone who shares your joy and passion for camp. And maybe, through your exploring and trying and discovering, you’ll find out a little more about yourself.
My wish for you this year is to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way, because you never know what you’ll discover!
Allison Hillstrom
My wish for you is to be authentically you, all the time, wherever you are. Camp is a place where you can be yourself, and you don’t have to pretend to be a particular “something” to fit in. You are loved and celebrated as your true self. Camp is a place where you find your confidence, find your inner superhero, and find courage to be comfortable in your own skin. Part of the magic of camp is that who you are becoming travels with you into the rest of your life. Take the courage and confidence you find at camp into your life at home, at school, in sports, in friendships, in every aspect of your life. Never be afraid to be authentically you!
Stacey Rice
