At Camp Twin Creeks, one of our core pillars is this simple but powerful belief: our environment is the best educator.
During the off-season, Iain and I are given a gift we rarely experience in the summer, space. Space to slow down. Space to listen. Space to let camp teach us in a different way. Winter at camp feels like a completely different world.
On our last visit, the lake was completely frozen over. The trees stood bare. Animal tracks decorated the snow covering the camp. The usual soundtrack of summer’s hum of activity had been replaced by stillness. A deep, steady quiet. It was in that quiet that I noticed them: a pair of bald eagle nesting along the road to the lake.
I stood there far longer than I meant to, just watching. There was something deeply moving about it.
Eagles mate for life. They return year after year to a place they trust, a place that offers safety, shelter, and the right conditions to raise their young. They don’t choose casually. They prepare carefully, reinforcing their nest branch by branch, strengthening the structure before their eaglets arrive. Every detail matters. Every choice is intentional. And they chose Camp Twin Creeks.
Out of all the towering trees throughout the Monongahela National Forest, they selected this space to build their family. They chose our trees for protection. Our quiet for safety. Our lake and creeks for nourishment. This environment will become the classroom where their little ones first open their eyes, stretch their wings, and learn what it means to fly.
Watching them prepare their nest, I couldn’t help but feel the parallel in my heart. In many ways, Iain and I are doing the very same thing as we prepare for summer.
Long before campers arrive, we are strengthening the “nest.” We walk the grounds. We check the buildings. We imagine the lake full again. We plan programs with intention. We hire and train staff who will care deeply. We think carefully about how every space, from the waterfront to the campfire, will hold, protect, and shape the young people entrusted to us.
Just like the eagles, we prepare before the little ones arrive. We create safety, we build shelter, we anticipate growth. And like those eagles, we know our job is not to hover forever.
Their role is to provide a secure foundation. And then, eventually, to step back and watch their eaglets test their wings. To let them wobble. To let them try. To let them soar. Camp Twin Creeks is no different.
Our role isn’t to control every moment of a camper’s journey. It’s to create an environment strong enough, safe enough, and inspiring enough that growth happens naturally within it. The land does so much of the teaching for us. The lake teaches courage. The forest teaches resilience. The quiet teaches reflection. Community teaches belonging.
Standing there in the winter stillness, watching those eagles build their future, I felt immense gratitude. Gratitude that they trust this land and gratitude that families trust us in much the same way.
Just like those eagles, we are committed, season after season, to building a place where children can arrive safely, grow boldly, and one day soar.
-Amy
