This morning at 6:15 as I strolled out onto my cabin porch for a glance at the splendour of Algonquin in the morning, pink and gold light on the lake, I heard the usual morning sounds here: Several teams of 14 and 15 year old boys and girls training for Brent and Whitney trips. They paddle across the front of camp at high speed, pull up the canoes at the surf beach, throw them on their shoulders, and jog back to the other end of camp, only to repeat the paddle and portage circuit. With their staff coaching them and cheering them on all the while… 12 hours later I was in my cabin with the Curve (our 15 year old girls) doing our annual Curve Cooking Lesson. But before we cooked, we chatted. I asked the girls how they feel about Arowhon’s rule of no makeup and no hair straightening and no fancy or sexy clothes. “We love it, it’s so easy.” They then went on to tell stories of their friends at other camps who, according to them, straighten their hair every day. In their eyes this was clearly not a good thing. They said they like the simplicity of no primping, and that it’s nice to to compete with each other for who looks best. Then they cooked dinner (with only minimal direction from me): Pasta with home-made (from fresh basil) pesto, shrimps with lemon and garlic sauce, Greek salad and garlicky steaks. Yummy. And fun.

Both events – the dinner and before it the early morning training paddling – caused me to reflect on the nature of 14 and 15 year olds – and how different they are at camp from in the city. Here at camp they’re so busy taking on challenges (like Brent and Whitney training) that they almost forget to rebel. They know – because I tell them on the first day of camp – that they’re major role models for the younger kids. And they take that pretty seriously. It doesn’t really matter if the many kids who are training for Brent and Whitney actually go on the trips. What matters more is that in committing to daily training, to the physical and mental exertion and perseverance, to being a positive member of a team and supporting your friends, these teenagers grow.

It also matters that all the Junior and Inters see them do it, know they’re doing it, and they then aspire to be like the big kids. Instead of aspiring to what they see in the city on screens, the way adolescent girls get themselves up (like painted pop stars with boob jobs and mini skirts) here the younger girls aspire to stuff like training for Brent and Whitney… and being a team player. For boys it’s the same dynamic. In the Point, where Senior Boys live, there’s a lot of talk about the meaning of brotherhood, and every Point man being there for every other Point man. That’s a little different from the definition of manhood outside Planet Arowhon. We prefer our definition.