Reflecting on Brave: Summer 2025

Camp Sunshine’s summer sessions wrapped up on June 30, but over the last

few weeks, we’ve been reflecting on the meaningful experiences of each session. Last November our staff and a few members of our leadership team landed on the theme BRAVE! After all, there’s a million stories to tell and songs to sing about being BRAVE. Over the course of the next six months, we embraced the theme in our preparations and found it to be transformative for all of us - staff, board, volunteers and our campers. BRAVE became a theme where we could acknowledge our fears, lean on others, and “keep movin’ on” together!  

Here are few moments from our sessions we loved: 

• Each year we typically learn a few new-to-us songs. Sometimes they are popular songs that counselors and campers know, and sometimes they are niche! This year, we introduced the song Lead with Love. It was the perfect anthem for our theme! One verse states: “I know you’re scared. And I’m scared too. But here I am, right next to you.” During one of our sessions, an individual decided they wanted to ride the Big Swing, but they were scared! Slowly, they started to muster the courage. They put on a harness and stepped to the ladder to get attached… and then began to tremble. Suddenly the community around them began singing: “You gotta put one foot in front of the other!” It was a realization that fear is normal and we can face our fears when others encourage us and love us in each step - regardless if we are successful or not. 

• Camp is meant to be a time of exploration, relationship building, and play.

  This year we played an all-camp game where cabins earned points by participating in different challenges. What made cabins successful was how much they worked together as a team. Everyone who participated had to step outside their comfort zones and compete! Teams had to complete activities like building a fire, lead each other through obstacle courses, compete in water relays, and create dances together. The game concluded with the top two teams having a tug-of-war! By the end of the game, we found such high levels of joy and inclusion, and of course some bragging rights. 

• The friendships that unfolded between camper and counselor pairs! Every year, we are witness to many moments of magic as these friendships are formed. Sometimes it happens magically when they discover a common interest - like a love for horses. Or when a counselor becomes the lovely assistant to a budding magician. Or when a camper/counselor pair have different communication abilities and yet find a way to communicate their needs, desires, and delights! It’s hard to describe how the relationships between campers and counselors were able to lean into each other with support and kindness, achieving great things together.

• This was the third year of exploring the Four Mindsets as part of our training for our counselors and leadership team. We can see the fruit this training is bearing as our counselor shared how they were able to apply these principles in their relationships. One counselor shared “Yes, I used all four principles! In particular, using dignity based communication when my camper and I were struggling was something I utilized because I wanted to make him feel as if we were casual friends in an argument, and it worked!” Another shared, “The four mindsets have been a great reminder for me to be open minded about the abilities of an individual and always treat others with respect and dignity.” And “Throughout camp I have kept the four mindsets in the back of my mind. Not only do they apply to our campers, but they apply to everyone we interact with in our normal lives.” 

All throughout 2025, we’ve celebrated what it means to be BRAVE: stepping into the unknown, facing challenges head-on, and embracing vulnerability in the name of growth and connection. At camp, being brave might look like building friendships with new people, trying something that feels scary (even when everyone says it’s safe), or speaking up for yourself in a new way. These moments matter. They empower our community to carry that same courage home into everyday life. As camper and advisory council member Katie recently shared in a column for the Grand Haven Tribune, “it is OK to be scared sometimes. Everyone feels scared, nervous or anxious at times. Just remember, you are not alone! Others are there for you.”