For years now, we’ve been talking about the benefits of a camp experience for children, the incredible rewards that stick with them long after the active fun of camp life fades back to the demands of home and school. We talked about the meaningful transformation kids experience, personally, socially, intellectually and physically. In so many ways, camp is educational, in the best sense of the word. It’s an experience that children can draw upon later in life as they encounter new challenges, meet new people, and branch out beyond the familiar. Camp is great for kids, in truly important ways.

If you ask the girls at Rockbrook why they love camp so much, they won’t hesitate to explain that it’s the people, their friends that make it so important. There’s no doubt about it; at camp you make your very best friends. There’s time to relax and plenty of super fun things to do, so it’s easy to make friends.

In addition to the real benefit of learning how to make friends, it’s also true that simply having these “camp friends” can be something valuable later in life. Campers share so much together and get to know each other so well, they naturally grow very close, and the camp becomes a close-knit community of supportive people. Years later, for example when they are looking for a job, or getting married, or moving to a new town, these connections (this “social capital”) can really make a difference. Camp friends are there for you!