Breathe deeply and look around you, at the tall pines and big sky and clear lake. Look at joy in the eyes of your friends, huddled next to you at campfire. Warmed by the flames and friendship, know how blessed you are, in this moment and in the weeks to come, to be away from the rush of the city and plunged into a world of love and beauty.

          Old campers, open your arms and your hearts to new campers who may get homesick in these first few days of our second session. New campers, talk to old campers about their experiences growing up at Agawak. They will tell you that they, too, were scared at first. They will tell you that, now, home is with their camp sisters in Mincoqua, Wisconsin.

          Talk to Mary, who has spent more than half her life at Agawak.

          When I started as a camper in 1963 I was eight years old and the youngest camper. I am now the oldest counselor. As you grow and learn at Agawak, you also may keep coming back to this welcoming home, summer after summer, even with gray hair!

          Know that the friends you make at Agawak are friends you will have for the rest of your life. My closest friends are my camp friends from the 1960s and 1970s. We still remember every word – and sing them loudly – of camp songs we sang at blue and white competition 50 years ago.

          We remember the names of the campers who took dives into the dirt under the legs of the guards to win Capture the Flag for their teams in 1965 and 1968. We laugh about how hot dogs and marshmallows charred over campfires tasted better than the healthy arugala we eat today. We are forever Agawak girls in our 50s and 60s who still sit arms linked around a campfire, transported back to a place of deeply-rooted joy, of belonging to a family, not of blood, but of history and loyalty.

          So breathe deeply, and walk slowly, and take in everything around you – the nature, the people, the laughter, the love. Your cook-outs and canoe trips and longstanding friendships are the building blocks for you to become a strong and capable adult. You will learn sportsmanship in team competition, and become more confident as you swim the lake and climb Tango Tower and hit your first bulls eyes in archery.

          You will huddle together during wild rain storms and make friends with campers who come from backgrounds far different than yours. Those strangers will become treasured, lifelong friends.

          So in your letters to your other homes, thank you parents for sending you to Agawak. They have given you the best gift of all, a gift far more enduring than the latest iPhone. They have given you the gift of finding out who you are, what you can do, the gift of a place where you can learn and explore and grow.

          I remember as a first time camper I felt dwarfed by the big sky and tall pines. Yet at summer’s end I felt like a giant because I had pushed myself to new heights, in sports, in bunk relationships, in resilience.

          We Agawak girls, supported and encouraged by each other, can do anything we set our minds out to do. Work hard and play hard so you can become your strongest and best self – and be ready for Boundary Waters when you are CITs!