At camp, no one gets excited about rain in the forecast.
Well, almost no one.
There’s a group of Twin Creeks campers and staff who definitely don’t mind a little precipitation out there. That’s because they’ve got a reason to go to their cabin and grab a piece of clothing that says a lot about their time at camp.
What appear on the grounds when clouds are in the sky are the green and yellow boat jackets with half-zip fronts worn with unmistakable pride by the people who’ve earned them through a decade of choosing Twin Creeks.
Each jacket tells the same story: ten years.
Ten summers of growth, friendship, and coming back. Ten years of choosing this place over everything else competing for their time.
The counselor heading to the dining hall? A decade of summers. The camper walking to archery? Ten-plus years of finding herself here.
This is what a decade of Twin Creeks culture looks like.
What You’re Actually Looking At
What you’re seeing is our longevity clothing program, a milestone-based system that celebrates commitment and choosing this place again and again.
Every camper and staff member who reaches a certain number of years gets a article of clothing marking their journey.
Three years gets you a t-shirt.
Five years earns a long-sleeve shirt.
Eight years brings a green hoodie with the number “8” stitched boldly on the sleeve.
And ten years? That’s when you get the jacket.
The program is cumulative and celebratory.
During third session this past summer, roughly one third of campers received some form of longevity clothing (many others were in-between milestones).
About 25 three-year shirts, 15 five-year long sleeves, 15 eight-year hoodies, and two rocked those coveted ten-year jackets.
Most places only record longevity on a spreadsheet. We put it on people’s backs.
These items are earned through choice, commitment, and coming back. Year after year, kids choose Twin Creeks over everything else competing for their summer.
We want to honor that loyalty in a way you can see and wear.
Making Culture Visible
From the outside looking in, this might just seem like fabric and thread.
But for campers and staff, what happens across those years is the real story. Experiences, growth, friendships. That last decades.
An 8-year-old camper becomes a teenage counselor, then returns as staff in their twenties, wearing that same green hoodie they earned years earlier.
Couples who’ve met here and then sent their kids (yeah, that’s happened.) It’s something of a full-circle journey we have the privilege to witness witness.
Culture is often tough to define. How do you show belonging? How do you measure the value of choosing the same place year after year?
We already know we cover the intangible parts of it. This is a way to also make it tangible.
Kids and staff choose to come back to cabins that are busy and maybe messy, , bathrooms that aren’t quite the same as home, and schedules that can feel demanding. They choose this.
The clothing doesn’t create the culture. It reveals it.
It makes visible what was always there: a community that values commitment, celebrates growth, and recognizes what really matters.
Growing Deeper Roots
The clothing program tells just a part of it, and there’s one another milestone I just have to mention: fifteen years.
When someone reaches a decade and half at Twin Creeks, we don’t give them something to wear. We plant a tree.
The 15-year forest sits near the stables, and it’s growing. Nearly twenty trees now stand as living proof of the deepest kind of commitment. Each tree represents someone who found their place here and kept choosing it, year after year.
Unlike the clothing that gets worn and eventually retired, these trees will be here long after their recipients have moved on.
And a more poetic person than me would take this time to talk about roots, and “weathering storms” and “reaching for the sky” and “seasons of change.” Blah. blah. Blah. You get it. What can I say, trees make great metaphors:).
Suffice to say, some forms of recognition you wear. Others you grow.
Final Thought
This summer, take a moment to notice the clothing around camp. Ask your camper about the shirts, hoodies, and jackets they see. Ask them what they think about earning their first milestone piece someday. Or which one they have coming next.
Because when that day comes, when your child pulls on their three-year t-shirt for the first time, they’re not just wearing cotton and thread. They’re wearing proof that they found a place worth choosing again and again.
They’re wearing culture. They’re wearing belonging.
And if you see those green and yellow jackets walking by, know there’s a group rooting for the rain.
Because it means time to show off a decade of dedication.
Best wishes, Iain
