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Throughout the summer, as we look across the front lawn during lunch, we see and hear campers and counselors chatting, laughing, and enjoying time spent at ALC with dear friends. We know that in these cherished moments together, in person, away from the incessant demands of technology, school, sports, and more, our campers and counselors are building the foundation for what we hope will become lifelong friendships.
Many of our counselors have grown up here at ALC, and they model the values of friendship, respect, and kindness with both longtime ALC friends and those new counselors who join the community each summer. These friendships have grown and deepened over many years, blessed by the continuity of the summer days spent together.
We see the value of the ALC friendship continue to impact our Alums (and ourselves too) through the steady presence they have in one another’s lives over the course of many decades. Many ALC Alums are fortunate enough to have created close bonds with ALC friends in camp as both campers and counselors - friends with whom they stay connected long after their last summers living in ALC tents. Some of these friends are in touch daily, but many can go weeks or months without chatting, and simply pick up where they left off. These friends are the first ones to our sides through all of life’s moments - graduations, illnesses, weddings, babies, passings, promotions, and more. They are the friends who cheer us on and hold us up each and every day.
But it all starts at Alford Lake, where we have the time to laugh, play, talk through moments of frustration, cheer each other on at the play, tennis tournaments, and so much more. Here, we have the time to get to know one another because we are together all day, every day, for weeks on end. We build a foundation for lifelong friendships because we have the time and courage to truly get to know each other, to open up and be our true selves, over the course of summer days spent together.
As a leadership team, not only do we each cherish our own friendships forged through our days as campers and counselors, but we are also thankful to see today’s campers and counselors creating their own bonds of friendship each day at ALC. May these time honored connections continue to inspire each of us, no matter when we were in camp, to continue to be our true selves, to take the time to get to know others, and to stand faithfully by the sides of those who make a difference in our lives. We hope that our Campers and Counselors of 2024 are feeling the strength of these bonds as they begin the new school year, and that ALC Alumnae continue to feel the strength of their ALC friendships years after their time in camp.
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