What Makes Timberlane Tick

Timberlane is unique compared with most other camps, because we have achieved something most camps never experience. Over 90% of our staff is composed of former campers who have come up through the ranks of our leadership traing program, and this is probably the highest “home-grown” percentage of any camp in the country. Most boys who attend private camps are given a series of activities to take as they continue attending camp, and they are exposed to as many new situations as possible. It is hoped that during this time they will make new friends and become more mature persons, but by the time they complete tenth grade in high school, usually camp is over for them. Is this enough?

I have always felt that most camps make a mistake when they do all the work for the boy in program planning. What’s wrong with giving the young boy a chance to choose some activities and help make some personal decisions? As the camper returns to camp, he should be encouraged to speak out with any ideas he might have to improve camp. For example, one year some boys came up to me with the idea of creating a radio station, so that fall I gave them a budget of $300.00 and let them develop the program. The next summer, radio station KTIM was born. Trampolining presented a problem, so our campers devised a complete set of rules for a game called tramp ball, and it is one of the most popular activities at camp.

Staff members have suggested new ideas too. Lee Glicksman a counselor who came up through the ranks, convinced me that pottery could be a great activity, and in two years, we’ve built wheels for spinning the clay, and we have a kiln to fire up and glaze the products that the boys create. This magazine, Timberlife, is a creation of Fred Bierman, another counselor up through the ranks. The implementation of the publication must develop through the creativity, ideas and love of the part of the campers who write articles, take pictures, help write headlines and do the layouts. It’s just another in the continuing caravan of new ideas at Timberlane. Nature Lore, backpacking and volleyball are ideas that have becom more popular this year, and I know that many new boys will participate in these new areas.

It is difficult to mention the countless new ideas that crop up each season, and although some of them aren’t always successful, we need never fear running out of new ideas at Timberlane. And this is what makes Timberlane tick... It’s each of you boys running up to H.H. with new ideas (and some of them pretty far-fetched) that ultimately makes us grow a little. If you come back to Timberlane year after year without leaving a little of your spirit behind at the end of your stay, or if you work with young boys and don’t implant some of yourself on their souls, then you’ve missed the boat. Vance Liebman, Joe Shneider, Randy Wynn, Fred Bierman, Lee Glicksman and on and on and on--- each of them has contributed so much to Timberlane, yet each of them has spent just as much time preparing new people to take their places when they don’t return to camp. That’s been their greatest contribution, and when camp is over for them, I’ll bet there’ll be a lot of young cubs just itching to take their places. Some of you might end up doing a bigger and better job than anyone every dreamed you could do.
H.H.

BACK TO ISSUE-1 CONTENTS