The three hundred foot tree*.
18 heads swiveled from the granite boulder to the skinny, impossibly tall pine tree. Sitting between was the pale blue 1994 Ford F150 I had thoughtlessly sandwiched between them with no hope of extraction. We were prepping for our fourth summer of Beam Camp at our soon to be finished new home at Parker Mountain and the only thing we agreed on was that either the rock or the tree would have to go. Some of us were tool-familiar artists, none of us were naturally lumberjack-ish. No phone service, no local tradesperson rushing to our rescue. 45 minutes of tense debate ensued, angles of chainsaw cuts considered, people stomped off refusing to be party to a disaster.
As we begin the 21st summer of Beam Camp camper enrollment and big project selection, it is impossible for me not to reflect on the central role that challenge plays in the environments Beam Center cultivates for educational and developmental growth. The 28 big camp projects we’ve built since 2005, of course, are the emblems of aspiration and shared purpose that drive how we teach problem-solving, craft and collaboration skills at camp. But these spectacular products of learning are just as importantly pretexts for youth (and adults) to figure out ways to overcome the unplanned, unexpected or sometimes unpleasant hurdles of living and working in community; how to cooperatively and productively negotiate shared space, ideas, achievements and failures. Or just how to safely liberate a pickup truck from a rock and a tree.
Practicing healthy and generative responses to challenges is the core of the Beam Camp experience and Beam Center’s work in bringing technical and creative projects and tools to classroom and career-connected learning in NYC.
In a camp tradition where many institutions’ ages are measured in half-centuries, at 21-years old Beam Camp is still something of an early adolescent in camp years. Still, in our relatively short life span, 2200+ campers and 400+ staff and guest artists have collaborated on projects and challenges big and small. More than 600 of those campers attended Beam Camp at low or no cost made possible through the generosity of Beam Center donors, many of whom are Beam Camp parents.
I can’t wait to welcome the 2025 campers and to challenge them to leave their mark on the decades of Beam to come.
*“That thing isn’t an inch over 75-feet.” - Chip, sainted New Hampshire builder of Beam Camp cabins
No vehicles or people were harmed in the felling of the tree.
