June 29, 2023

Dear Friends,

What does joy look like? Have a look at our camp photos and see for yourself. This month we celebrate the wonders, delights, disasters, and paint splattered marvels of sharing summer adventures with those of us most recently arrived on this planet, our children.

Happy Summer,

The Boxerwood Team

And color. And rainbows of kindness. This year Boxerwood kicked off its camp season with two weeks of play and learning for children ages 4 to 8. In the company of Boxerwood educators, the children explored the natural mysteries of color, concocted dyes (thank you, Master Gardeners for the plants!), and painted our world…well, see for yourself.

The same weeks our youngest campers cavorted around the garden, other Boxerwood educators were busy concocting adventures for the “tweens.” In partnership with Maury River MS, we provided a 4-day camp for 60 incoming 6th graders and another 4-day program for rising 7th-9th graders. Based at Lake Robertson, we also traveled to Boxerwood, hiked Woods Creek Trail, and tended a chicken (see photos).

What happens when you combine 40 children, 10 college counselors, a big idea, and a day of solid rain at Boxerwood? We’ll leave that to your imagination, but the results were amazing! Programa SOL is a WLU camp for local children who speak more than one language. Rain or shine camp happened: we explored the natural world and created one-of-a-kind sculptures, inspired by a folk art tradition from Mexico. Look for these creations in our Spectacle!

“Transformation” was the theme of our afternoon camps with Enderly Heights ES at Glen Maury Park in Buena Vista. Rising 2nd and 3rd graders explored the river and art-making in the first week, then rising 4th - 6th graders in the second. The river and its creatures both large and small inspired us. We painted, wrote haiku and stories, danced about macroinvertebrates, and made giant dragonflies. On June 28 everybody came together for a camp finale (see caboose video below). Thank you to our 45 campers who are also contributing their puppets, hand-made drums, and twirly sticks to the Spectacle.

Not all families are in the position to send their children to a Boxerwood-based camp, even with scholarship help. There are transportation issues, work schedules, food insecurity, and more. To better serve the whole community, we've expanded our ability to provide more kinds of camps for more kinds of Rockbridge kids through partnerships. Collaborating has helped us reduce those obstacles for the benefit of those we serve. This month, an additional 200 children to experienced the joys of Boxerwood camp thanks to these partnerships.

Boxerwood's mission is to educate and inspire people of all ages towards becoming environmentally responsible stewards of the Earth.

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