S2:E1 | What is Camp Alleghany?

Why does Camp Allegheny exist? Why are we here? So if someone said like, why is Camp Allegheny a thing? What would you say? I can start off with, one of the things I usually say when people are like, what is Camp Allegheny? I talk about that we're in all girls overnight camp.

And that, you know, people will say like, do you have a theme? Is it like a sports camp or, you know, is it a church camp? And I'm like, you know, if we had a theme, it would be, in my opinion, personal growth, you know, just a way to, in a fun way, allow and foster personal growth amongst girls and young women.

So whether that's independence, you know, confidence, you just empowering them, resilience, things like that.

So that's kind of one of the first things that comes to my mind when I think about like, why do we exist? Why are we here? Yeah.

I always say like, you know, I do always lead that we're an we're an all girls camp because I do think that makes us stand out because they're, they're not very many single sex institutions anymore.

And that's like from a, you know, It's a hard thing to, you know, a lot of people like, oh, I want the co-ed, I want the co-ed.

But I always lead with that.

We're an all girls.

But I also always say that we are a traditional overnight camp.

Like that's like, you know, when you think of you know, the parent trap.

Like that's like, I, I think of like, that is a traditional overnight camp that has been around, you know, obviously for us over a hundred years.

But when I, I think normally, like when you say that you think decades, you think, okay, this place has been around for a really long time.

We don't need the, I don't know.

I feel like we don't need the themes or the, like we have to put ourselves into a category.

Like I just say like, that's our category.

Like we're an all girls traditional overnight camp.

So, and then I think some of the rest just sort of speaks for itself.

So.

Well, and I mean, you guys covered both pretty much what I would have said, but with that, so why should Allegheny exist? Partially because of what Stephanie was saying, how there aren't that many single sex institutions available that would afford this safe space for women and girls to then be empowered and gain that independence and that voice and that confidence without the imposition of the other sex.

And similarly, also just being technology free as we are, we're fully connected.

We like to We're outside, we sleep in tents, all of that nature and that removal from, I mean, I don't know how woo-woo you want to get, but the EMFs of it all and, you know, the screens and the devices and all of that and being able to provide these children with a safe environment.

environment where they can learn and grow and build their resilience, like Elizabeth was saying, in a place that is catered to fostering that is why it should exist because there aren't that many of those spaces out there anymore.

Yeah.

And when you take away the technology and you kind of strip it down to this sort of rustic space, you know, real true deep friendships form out of that too.

And so it is a place where these lifelong friendships and deep bonds develop because you're not hiding behind a screen.