Where Will I Find Dry Clothes?

That was Leaderhip 2 camper, Allie's, first question after her canoe capsized on the St. George River. “Where will I find dry clothes?” She'd calmly assumed that her clothes did not need to be inside the waterproof bag issued to all Leadership 2 campers. Everything she owned was soaked.

She was amazed when her Leadership II mates dug into their small waterproof bags and hauled out clothes (their only dry clothes) to share. She didn’t even know these people!  But she was going to, through the mud and bugs, rapids and portages, rocky stream channels to the wide and windy Atlantic ocean, through nights of starry constellations and always laughter over what seemed impossible. Dash put it this way, “we were all such different people, people we would never ‘hang’ with but this taught me to work with other different people no matter what!” But as they all dipped into their slim stores of clothes to aid Allie, they already knew they were going to rely on each other and “hear each other” free of all electronic devices and interference. Garrett, a texting champion from rural Maine celebrated rigging clothing and bedding to sail down river even as he praised the value of hearing nature and hearing each other clearly for the first time in his life.

From the top of Frye Mountain, descending the entire St. George Valley, hiking and canoeing the watershed into the ocean, Leadership 2 campers (ages 15-17) learn that “everyone lives downstream.” They came to see the watershed as a vascular system of the landscape bringing nutrients and taking away waste, erosion and the consequences of human pollutants. Rotating as leaders, cooks, “dish dogs,” advance scouts and even as ‘professors” in charge of each day’s law of ecology (“Everything is Connected”), they experienced both teamwork and leadership challenges. Most felt (as Baxter put it) what it was like to be a “raindrop falling toward the sea.” Along the way they also visited the people of the valley, meeting owners of lumber companies, orchards and organic gardens and lobster boats.  Area historians and land trust volunteers turned up at their campfires for evening conversation and stories. During their quiet alone time (solos) they wrote letters to themselves that Tanglewood staff promised to keep and send to them in their future lives. And as one L2 camper smiled and whispered to me on her last day after completing the final leadership challenge (L2’s become counselors to younger Tanglewood campers), “change yourself, change the world."

Special thanks to the 2009 Leadership 2 campers who shared their thoughts and experiences with me this summer — Sandra Neily, Executive Director