‘Summer of the Swab’

CAMP GUIDE

‘Summer of the Swab’

Careful plans addressed physical and mental health of Camp Walden campers.

LIZ STEVENS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Dr. Amanda Alexander, center, with Walden 2021 camp health officers Danica Stenzel, left, and Ellie Ackerson, right.

It was “the summer of the swab.”

For Camp Walden in Cheyboyan, Michigan, as for many overnight summer camps, “swab” was the four-letter word of 2021. But testing for COVID-19, by repeatedly sticking thousands of Q-tip-like swabs up the noses of campers and staff, was also key to how this northern Michigan camp completed last season without one case of the COVID virus.

“I knew the directors would make the campers’ and staff’s safety their No. 1 priority, and they absolutely delivered,” says Sheri Marcus, parent of two Detroit-area Walden campers.

The plan for running a physically and mentally healthy camp in 2021 was a year in the making. It involved not just Walden’s own team of administrators and health professionals, but collaborations with many camp directors, both in Michigan and nationally. The monumental effort paid off: Not only was camp safe, say parents and campers, it was fun.

Walden’s leadership “struck what I truly believe was a perfect balance between caution and safety, and a recognition that camp still had to be camp,” says Jessica Fink, a Walden parent in San Diego, “with lots of testing and precautions leading up to camp … and then easing into what — according to my son — felt like a pretty normal camp experience.”

But Walden had to completely rethink how camp was going to function while cohorting and distancing were required. Typically, Walden’s 200-plus campers create their own individual activity schedules and by the second full day of camp, they are crisscrossing the woods, heading to activities on their own. “This intentional mixing of young and older, boys and girls, is really integral to Walden’s feel,” Director Scott Ruthart says. “We were really focused on making that first week — where you could only be with a small group — a meaningful and exciting one.” For some campers, the added precautions were less a nuisance than they were a comfort. “The mask-wearing and testing made my child feel safe,” says suburban Chicago parent Shira Gaule. “Her anxiety is sky high right now with COVID, so knowing the camp is taking COVID seriously is extremely important to me and my daughter.”

The most challenging aspect of managing the virus was confronting unexpected situations, says Dr. Amanda Alexander, a Walden camp doctor and Metro Detroit pediatrician, who spent most of last summer managing Walden’s COVID response. “We came into the summer with certain plans and policies, most of which continued, but there were also many unforeseen circumstances to address.”

Walden’s directors understood that the pandemic’s mental-health toll meant campers and staff would need additional support in 2021. They reached out to three social work professionals, all Walden alums: Brooke Bendix in Detroit, Alison Chroman in Chicago and Amy Shafer in Pittsburgh. Each spent a week to three weeks living and working at camp.

“Giving staff and campers a safe space to reflect on their thoughts and emotions from the year … was incredibly rewarding,” says Chroman, whose children attend Walden. “In many instances, just being an active listener seemed to help.”

Emy Beckett, right, daughter of Sheri Marcus, and friend Sarah Kaplinsky of Dallas.

Liz Stevens is the director of Camp Walden.