March Update #3

by Ariella Rogge on March 25

We know the “stay at home” mandates, school closures, new remote learning and remote work paradigms, travel restrictions and ever-changing landscape of “pandemic-time” can be overwhelming, confusing and challenging to manage.

And we are here to help.

We are posting a variety of content to our blog and social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram): activities to help kids get outdoors, offer mental health supports, provide feel-good videos of camp and much more.

Our goal is to help each of you #FindYourSummerSelf…the “summer self” being that wonder-filled, child-like summer perspective which reminds us that we are more capable, strong, competent and confident when we are in a supportive, uplifting community.

Right now, ironically enough, that means appreciating the technology we normally eschew to increase our connections to each other and to remember the lessons that camp has taught us.

  • I can climb mountains
  • I can overcome my fear of horses
  • I can find individuals who appreciate me for the person I am
  • I can find joy eating good food with people I love
  • I can connect with the natural world and something much larger than myself
  • I can clear my mind long enough to watch a sunset, sing a song, and just be

Laura and Sandy knew what they were doing when they used this Frank Waters quote as the Closing for our Sunday vespers on the rocks:

Nothing is simple and alone The breathing mountains, the living stones Each blade of grass, the clouds, the rain, Each star, the beasts, the birds, And the invisible spirits of the air. We are all one, Indivisible, Nothing that any of us does but affects us all.

Many of these moments from camp have become touch points of strength within ourselves. Let us know what we can do to help you #FindYourSummerSelf – and let us know what you are doing to connect with those lessons from camp, too.

Be safe, be well and keep climbing,
Your Friends at Sanborn

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Ariella Rogge
About Ariella Rogge

Ariella started her career at Sanborn when she was twelve. After five years of camper and five years of Sanborn staff experience, she continued her work with kids in the high school classroom. Ariella and her family returned to Sanborn in 2001 to take on the Program Director role which she held til 2012. She and Elizabeth Marable became co-directors of High Trails in 2013 and then Ariella became the High Trails Director in 2020. In the fall of 2022 she became the Director of Sanborn Western Camps, overseeing the director teams of both Big Spring and High Trails. She lists mountain golf, Gymkhana, climbing mountains and making Pad Thai in the backcountry as some of her favorite activities at camp. Ariella received a B.A. in English from Colorado College and is a certified secondary English educator,an ACCT Level 2 Ropes Course Technician, an ARC lifeguard and NREMT and WEMT. She lives in Florissant in the summer and in Green Mountain Falls during the school year so she can stay involved with the busy lives of her husband, Matt, and two teenage sons, Lairden and Karsten.