What can a young boy expect at Chosatonga? Well, many things. Many wonderful things.
- To start, there are new and exciting adventures on offer every single day.
- Thrilling activities structured to challenge first timers as well as the more advanced outdoorsman.
- Opportunities to be mentored by great guys, men of faith and serious abilities. Growth by friendship, presence, listening, and learning.
- Friendships forged in the context of shared outdoor pursuits and a framework of Christian brotherhood (but the freeing kind of brotherhood, not the exhausting, smothering sort when one feels pressured to participate).
- Traditions that have carried meaning for generations of men, young and old. From Friendship Council to the JC Hot Seat, singing the Righteous Brothers to the smell of the high country in the the evening, to the plunge of Pucker’s Leap and the hike up to Balsam’s mountain views, there are some things that will graft and grow into the heart of our campers and staff.
- Chances to hear God’s word and ponder it in an undistracted way. This is especially true during our daily Morning Watch, but also throughout the days and weeks during Chapels, Worship, rest hours and free times.
- Fun and wholesome competition. Every. Single. Day.
- Music. Lots of music. Particularly folk music and selections from our great American songbook. Camp is laced with tunes which speak to the heart of Chosmen.
- Freedom to chase your authentic interests with other young men who share these interests: reading, chess, arts and crafts, sports, poetry and drama, whitewater kayaking, guitar or piano, hiking, biking, weightlifting, humor, climbing, songwriting, etc. Camp is a place where young men have the freedom to consider what their essential desires are, and this often becomes a seedbed of important reflection for the rest of their lives.
- Laughter: key to a good session are skits and games, pranks and plays. Even our directors and admin staff don “Judge Jeffrey” hats (ifykyk) and sink their teeth into a good time. And no one, NO ONE, is exempt from the justice of Dining Hall when it is determined that someone must go IN THE LAKE!
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt
Richard Reeves’ recent book Of Boys and Men outlines some of the struggles of the modern American male. Reeves’ observations are based on data hard to deny: declining efficacy in school and on campus in the last four decades, decreased graduation rates, and downward trends in driver’s license acquisitions and casual dates are some of the things he mentions. He coins the term “the male malaise” and cuts to the heart of the matter: a crisis of meaning in modern masculinity.
“Boys will be boys”, as the old saying goes. And they will! There is such a thing as boyhood which contains beautiful universals when it comes to the masculine mind and heart. Boys often bond by action, and often experience a deep draw towards the wild. Wilderness and woods are a fine fit for boys, whose endless curiosity and propensity towards problem solving and task completion (especially if it involves camp fires, bee hives, and anything with inherent risk). However, this age-old pair of the great outdoors and growing boys has seen a widening gap of separation in the last decade. Boys are less likely to be outside and more likely to be in air-conditioned spaces, playing video games, cruising the internet, or occupying their “nothing box” (see therapist’s Mark Gungor’s humorous take on the male brain for reference).
Men and boys across America are at a crossroads. The multiplicity of instant pleasures on offer to your average high school aged boy is at an all time high. Self-indulgence can be unhinged in a world of fast food, pocket computers, and AI dating. Unmoderated pleasure, according to Aristotle and the ancient philosophers, dulls the heart, weakens the will, and silos our view to the self, incapacitating us to see the greatness the human heart is capable of, the greatness we’re born for. Pleasure distracts the heart from the call to self-denial, the call to use one’s strengths to support the needs of others.
How important it is to create spaces like Chosatonga, where boys can experience a world apart from sterile, seated classroom environments, a world where “the topography of their hearts matches the topography of the land” as Dr. John Eldredge said in his book Wild at Heart. While there are safeguards in place in our camp environment, there is also a tension present where boys are encouraged to make their own calls, to forge their own path. This process allows staff to grow in trust of the boy, and the boy to grow in trust of his own discernment and decisions. This freedom can breed self-respect as well as respect of those who gift the freedom to the boy in the first place.
With a population of only 90 campers ranging from ages 7-17, this family of young men really has the opportunity to grow close over the course of our sessions. We have 30+ male staff present, offering guidance, friendship, and fun. By the end of the session, with minimal effort, our boys can know every single person’s name in camp. This is a huge gift for our community. I personally remember looking up to the older boys and longing to be like them. It really clicked for me when I finally hit my growth spurt and could play ball with the bigger boys that now it was my turn to lift up the little ones, just as older camps had assisted me. This is a big lesson! It’s a good thing to always watch out for the little guy, and Chosatonga, because of our family like atmosphere, is a place where this can become a reality each session.
As the world leans further into the spaces of digital functionality, we at Chosatonga lean further into simple, hands-on, in-person life skills: map and compass, lighting a fire, building a solid shelter, packing a pack, carrying a conversation, habitually and confidently thinking of myself as a worthy member of a team. Our boys, caught in the current crisis of the masculine West, need confidence now more than ever. We aim to bring them into the arena of the wild and let the wilderness (and the Word of God) provide some valuable insight into who (and Whose) they are and what they were born for.
“…in the memory of virtue is immortality,
because it is known both by God and by men.
When it is present, men imitate it,
and they long for it when it has gone.”
Wisdom 4:1-2