Last month, I wrote a blog post about the importance of honoring one’s authentic self. We talk a lot about that at camp – about being exactly who you are. But how a teenager, or anyone, gets to “know” that authentic self in order to “be” that, is a whole other topic. Emotions live in…
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I started Odyssey Teen camp twenty-three years ago because I wanted to create a place to help teenagers who might be struggling. We didn’t advertise ourselves that way, but I believe most teenagers struggle to feel good about themselves and that many suffer in silence. I know I did when I was a teenager. I…
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Our biggest question One of the biggest questions we get all year is how we assign campers to their cabins at OTC. Unlike many other camps that decide to house based on the binary genders of “boys” and “girls,” we at OTC have chosen a different approach. We have listened to counselors and campers over…
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I freshly remember my first experience with Magic: the Gathering (shortened to Magic for the rest of this post) at OTC. Here I am, a 13-year-old kid so far tainted by society that I start my first summer at camp trying to find out where I “fit in” and who I have to pretend…
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Learning from disappointment and frustration When a camper wants to call home after only being there for a few days, they usually ask their parents to come and get them. They are tired from walking; they don’t love the rustic camping lifestyle; they miss their cell phones or all of the above. Usually, parents reluctantly…
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Too often, young people are punished for being different. As a neurodivergent person, my teenage years were punctuated by pressures to conform. Teachers and authority figures weren’t interested in how my mysterious brain worked or how fully I felt my feelings. They were interested in how well I would do well on standardized tests and…
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“What are the ideas that will liberate all of us? Science fiction is simply a way to practice the future together…practicing futures together, practicing justice together, living into new stories. It is our right and responsibility to create a new world.” -adrienne marie brown, Emergent Strategies: Shaping Change, Shaping Worlds In the summer of 2020,…
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I asked my wife while we were walking our dogs the other day why I didn’t make OTC a non-profit years ago, and she said, “you were always so busy planning for summer.” I thought, “oh, yeah, I remember that,” but if I knew then what I know now, I would have focused more on…
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20 years ago, when I started Odyssey Teen Camp, I could not have imagined the impact this camp would have on my life and thousands of other people’s lives. A safe space The concept was simple – create a summer camp for teenagers where they were safe from bullying and emotional abuse. A place where…
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Odyssey Teen Camp means different things to different campers, but one thing they all can agree on is that OTC changed their life. Kendall was a camper at OTC starting in 2014. His life was transformed as he built friendships, discovered a new sense of belonging and regained his confidence. Here Kendall shares his story…
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Find Out About Odyssey Teen Camp
A Non-Profit Overnight Summer Camp For Teens Ages 13-18
Located in the Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.
