2018 Summer Blog Kick-Off!

June 15, 2018

Greetings Tawonga families and friends!

Summer 2018 has arrived, and we are so thrilled to welcome 1,300 campers to Tawonga over the next three months! This week, our staff participated in intensive trainings to get ready for the kids (blog post coming soon), and in just two days, Taste of Camp campers will be arriving on a “jet bus.” Whether you will be tuning into The Pipeline (Tawonga’s blog) as a parent, alum or friend, please read below on what you can expect to see this summer.

Summer Blog Content

During this height of our program season as kids and teens join us for Summer Sessions, Teen Leadership Programs and Quest Adventure Trips, you will be able to read daily updates from Camp, right here on the blog. Tune in for posts on activities and programs, photos of Camp happenings and stories spanning our broad at-Camp community of nearly 200 staff members and over 300 campers per session. Ultimately, these posts will aim to present a holistic and diverse window into our amazing Tawonga summer community.

Your Child on the Blog

For the parents and loved ones of campers who are tuning in, we recognize that sending your child to sleep-away camp can be as much of a milestone for your child as it is for you. We hope that reading these posts will offer a glimpse into the magical Tawonga experience, as well as a connection to your children while they’re away from home.

At the same time, our intention is to capture authentic Tawonga moments while still providing an unplugged, immersive experience for campers, informed by our Screen-Free Policy.

Accordingly, we are only able to post a photo of every camper once per week.

If you do not see your child on the blog after a week (and would like to), please email sam@tawonga.org, and we will make sure to post one as soon as possible. The other photos you see of activities and programs aim to provide a peek into what all the campers will be doing during the session (even if you don’t see your child in many of them)! Thank you for your patience and understanding.

While we do include photos of campers on the blog and on social media, we are sensitive to protecting their privacy, and only include their first names and last initials (if at all).

Following Posts

The best way to stay current with Tawonga’s blog is to subscribe (if you haven’t already)! Simply enter your email in the field under ‘Follow Our Blog” on this page. Once subscribed, you will receive an email every time Tawonga publishes a new blog post (relieving you of the need to click “refresh”!).
Blog posts will not be shared by Tawonga staff on closed session Facebook groups; these groups are designed for parent-to-parent engagement. However, parents should feel free to post photos to these groups if inspired to!
Several of our blog posts will be linked to our main social media channels. Be sure to follow Camp Tawonga on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay in the loop.

A Note on Quests

You can check out “Notes from the Road” at the end of each Quest for photos and stories from these exciting outdoor adventures.

Who’s Behind the Blog?

Julia-Rose Kibben is our blogger & photographer this summer, capturing beautiful moments with our campers. Fun fact: This will be Julia-Rose’s 12th Tawonga summer (first time on staff), and as a Specialist In-Training in 2015, she authored this amazing poem for the blog. Together with year-round staff Sam Quintana, Summer Assistant Director and Casey Cohen, Communications and Operations Director, this blog team collaborates to bring Camp a little closer to you.

Please send your questions and any feedback about the blog to casey@tawonga.org — we would love to hear your thoughts.