Kabeyun’s blog features a variety of voices, including camp’s leadership, counselors, and trustees. Sometimes it’s a peak into daily life at camp both in and out of season, and more often it’s a way of sharing our thoughts on the ways that Kabeyun helps to develop strong, confident, caring boys one summer at a time.
I received a homesick letter from my camper. Now what?
Read More : I received a homesick letter from my camper. Now what?Receiving a letter from your camper saying they’re homesick, unhappy, or unsure can be unnerving. I’m a parent, too, and I understand – my children both sent homesick letters from camp, and I know how difficult they can be to read. Getting a homesick letter is as much of a camp rite of passage for parents as a hike up…
A Month Without a Phone? “Honestly, It’s a Relief”
Read More : A Month Without a Phone? “Honestly, It’s a Relief”When Henry A. arrived for his final summer as a Kabeyun camper, he left behind something most 15 year-olds consider a necessity: his phone. For four weeks in the Owls cabin, he – like all Kabeyun campers – had no technology. No Snapchat, no Tik-Tok, no scroll. And his reaction? Relief. That’s the word Henry used during a casual lunch…
A Century of Wilderness Trips
Read More : A Century of Wilderness TripsIf you ask former Kabeyun trips counselors about their experiences leading wilderness trips, you’ll get an earful, in all the best ways. That’s what I found when I began researching the evolution of Kabeyun’s trips program for an article in camp’s Annual Report and Newsletter titled “Thoughtfully Embracing Risk In The Wild.” In Zoom meetings, phone calls, emails, and text…
The View From the Office Porch 2026
Read More : The View From the Office Porch 2026There is a particular kind of learning that happens at Kabeyun that does not appear on an activity sheet at the end of the day. It is rarely acknowledged and often passes unnoticed in the moment. Maybe it takes place on the dock at the end of fourth period, or in the quiet of a walk across the junior ballfield…
Without an Audience
Read More : Without an AudienceWhen daily photo-sharing first emerged in the mid-2000s, many camps were quick to adopt it. Kabeyun, as it often does, chose a different path. Nearly twenty years later, we’ve revisited that decision more than once, and we keep arriving at the same conclusion. A few years ago, I watched a parent dropping off their camper at the start of their…
Kayaking at Kabeyun
Read More : Kayaking at KabeyunFor campers, whitewater kayaking begins without any whitewater at all, in the sheltered Small Cove. It’s where we start small, learning to keep our boat straight and trying our first rolls, where the foundation is built for everything to come. Kayaking as an activity at Kabeyun began much the same way. While canoes have been here since the earliest days,…
Spring Reflections
Read More : Spring ReflectionsI’ve written before about the stages of camp’s ‘cycling down’ during the fall and winter: how things here can feel empty and quiet before the snow falls, and how that snow makes the start of the following season feel far away indeed. But here we are in early May, and across all fronts things are in motion signaling that the…
Remembering Bill French
Read More : Remembering Bill FrenchKabeyun is saddened to announce the death of Bill French, a pillar of our community whose impact on camp cannot be overstated. Bill passed away on February 10, 2025, in Cambridge, MA, after a series of illnesses. He was 83. Bill was proud to be a direct link back to Kabeyun’s founding. His father, Frank, was one of camp’s original five campers in 1924,…
The View from the Office Porch 2025
Read More : The View from the Office Porch 2025There are certain aspects of Kabeyun I take for granted, things I count on encountering each time I drive down the camp road. Some of those are specific to me and my experience here, while I suspect others are universal – the view across the lake from the docks in small cove, the calm and quiet beneath the towering trees…
The View from the Office Porch 2024
Read More : The View from the Office Porch 2024This summer will mark my 14th year as Kabeyun’s director, and my 26th season at camp dating back to 1985, when I arrived as an apprehensive and uncertain 11-year-old. It is an odd coincidence (notable only to me, I’m sure) that I will turn 50 just as Kabeyun turns 100 – we will both celebrate milestones this year, if only…
