Finding joy in life is at the heart of who Kate Andrews Kelly is. Early on, she realized she could actively infuse joy through play and by helping others to experience growth. Working at both a boarding school and summer camps, she saw the way to keep doing that in every season. Find out how operationalizing your values can lead to optimized joy.
Guest Kate Kelly had grown up thinking about herself as an athlete. But she also was someone who sought out joy in all aspects of her life. She liked being around kids, so figured she would be an educator. But something whispered to her that educating kids wasn’t all about being in the classroom. She started working in admissions and coaching at an independent school in Massachusetts but wished she could make a longer relationship with the students.
Working in residential life, she was on the academic calendar, so her summers were free and she reached out to some summer camps. She first landed at Camp Danbee, where she was in charge of 250 girls, ages six to 12. Undaunted, she realized this was what she was looking for: the intersection of experiential learning and community building and relationships. She was in love.
At the same time, her co-worker and Dartmouth classmate Briarly Kessler kept hounding her to meet Cole Kelly, a friend who lived in Georgia but just seemed perfect for Kate. Like the immediate sense of “this is it” when she got to camp, connecting with Cole had the same certainty. He brought the perfect combination of fun and care for the same things that Kate loved. Shortly after meeting, summer camp came up and Cole, who was just finishing his MBA and looking for something to go run, was all in. Along the couple’s nearly twenty year camp journey, they’ve developed and refined the values that make everything work, in both their personal life and camp life.
In this episode, find out from Kate how operationalizing your values can lead to optimized joy…on ROADS TAKEN...with Leslie Jennings Rowley.
About This Episode's Guest
For almost twenty years, Kate Kelly, with husband Cole, has run Camp Weequahic, a three- or six-week sleep-away camp for girls and boys located in northeastern Pennsylvania. When not on site each summer, the couple lives with their three boys in Athens, Georgia.
Executive Producer/Host: Leslie Jennings Rowley
Music: Brian Burrows
Find more episodes at https://roadstakenshow.com
Email the show at RoadsTakenShow@gmail.com
Kate Kelly: I thought, holy cow. And I fell in love with it. The first minute I was there, it was all about relationships and communication and building skills and growing and flourishing. And it was fun. You know, you were doing all of those things and nobody even knew you were building all those skills because there's a joy.
Leslie Jennings Rowley: Finding joy in life is at the heart of who Kate Andrews Kelly is. Early on, she realized she can actively infuse joy through play and by helping others to experience growth. Working at both the boarding school and summer camps, she saw the way to keep doing that in every season. Find out how operationalizing your values can lead to optimized joy on today's Roads Taken with me, Leslie Jennings Rowley.
Today, I'm here with Kate Andrews Kelly, and we are going to talk about gratitude and attitude and courage. And we'll get to all of those things, but let me just welcome you. Kate. I'm so glad to have you here.
KK: Thank you. I'm so happy to be with you.
LJR: Okay. But we start this with two questions and they are, when we were in college. Kate, who were you? And when we were getting ready to leave, who did you think you would become.
KK: Let's see, I think I've always felt kind of the same from when I was a little kid to probably today, right now. I identified as an athlete always. I had one older brother and I had a sporty family. And so that was just what we did. We always played. So I think when I was leaving Dartmouth and certainly my time during, I felt like an athlete. I was a soccer player and a part of the soccer team. And that was a huge part of my identity.
And I guess when we were leaving that was leaving that behind. So there was a little trepidation with that. That had been a big part of my identity going all the way through school and then leaving, I think I felt like a person who wanted to teach. I wanted to be in education. I didn't want to be in a classroom. I just wanted to be around kids. And I really loved the more of the life skills and the real parts of being human, not that learning literature isn't, but that, wasn't what I thought I would be best at. So I was leaving with that in mind and I didn't know what it would look like at all. And it took me several years to find it, but I think I left feeling like a former athlete and an educator.
LJR: Yeah. Yeah. But you, you, although that was such an intrinsic part of who you were at Dartmouth ,your senior year wasn't exactly that for you, right, because of an injury.
KK: Yes, right, we played four games. And then I tore a ligament in my ankle and knee. So I red shirted and I ended up spending that winter working at a school down the road, and I didn't take classes so that I could come back that next fall. And get all of my eligibility.
But during that time, our coach, Steve Swanson, took a job at Stanford and everything turned upside down. So it didn't end quite how I had envisioned it, but I learned a lot and it wasn't really fun, but. It was maybe character-building.
LJR: Yeah. And then you had a bit of an adventure, but knowing that the teacher was in you, you started working at an independent school. So talk me through kind of that first leap after college for you.
KK: So I went to Rome because I was done in January and I thought, well, no, one's going to hire anybody now. So I might as well have an adventure. So I spent six months there with my closest friends from high school. And that was. Fun, but I am just too Type A for that lifestyle. That did not work great for me. I was that crazy American running around the Coliseum and people are looking to see what was chasing me. I’m just very driven. So a couple of weeks of being there and I was like, okay, I need to make a plan. So I put my stuff in with Carney Sandoe then, and was looking at the next ball and landed at Northfield Mount Hermon.
I didn't go to boarding school. I didn't know much about it until I got to Dartmouth. I grew up in Minnesota till I was eight and then Seattle till I was 15. And so when the Dartmouth coach saw me play in November of our senior year and called, I had no idea what the place was. I was going to Notre Dame. I had a scholarship to go play there. I'd already visited. I loved the coach and the team. Steve just kept calling and said, just come visit, you know, just come see. And I thought, well, why not? So I went January. I mean, what is appealing about Hanover in January? But I fell in love with it. And I thought, well, it would be a tremendous challenge and it would be something so different. And so I went for it and I guess that was kind of a turning point in my life. I had gone to a small Jesuit school in Seattle. And so a lot of people went to Notre Dame. That was a really normal transition to go to the next level and stay in Catholic schools. And it was a big leap for me and heading to Dartmouth was kind of…turned my world a little upside down.
LJR: And then kind of getting into the other world that you didn't really know about, kind of boarding school life, you were involved in the coaching world and the residential life world, which seemed to be really attuned to what you had been thinking all along: I want to be an educator, but the life skills part, right?
KK: Yes. I actually started in the admission office. So I did, that was my entree to a boarding school. And I did two years there and I walked in and they said, oh, you're going to share an office with another ‘96. And I thought, whoa, who is it? And it was Briarly Kessler. And I had never met her at Dartmouth. (LJR: That's crazy.) Well, yes, but she became just the dearest friend. And so we shared an office and worked together for two years and then I thought, okay, I don't want to do the admission thing. The crafting the class, I really loved. And I love the interviews and meeting the kids, but there just was not a ton of ongoing engagement. So you interview them, you get them in and that. That was kind of it for the end of the relationship. So I did move to residential life and I ran a dorm of 56 girls. And I think I was 23 years old or 24. I mean, I had no business doing that, but I loved it so much. I loved the day to day, the kids coming in and out and having the meals with them and going to watch them play sports. And I mean, it feels like pseudo-parenting, but not all the real responsibility of it. There's so many young people working in independent schools. I mean, we were all, there were dozens of us that were in our early twenties. So we would go exercise together and go on runs and go to spin class. And I mean, it was really hedonistic, too. Like there was a lot about it that was just fun and pleasure. And I loved my job. So it was a great entry for me into that world.
And because I moved to residential life, I had my summers off. And so that first summer I thought, well, what on earth would I do? I'm not going to sit in Northfield, Massachusetts. And so I just contacted a couple summer camps. And it happened, this group said, “oh, we just lost our head counselor; come, you'll be in charge of 250 girls ages six to 12.” And I thought, holy cow. And I fell in love with it. The first minute I was there, it was all about relationships and communication and building skills and growing and flourishing. And it was fun. You know, you were doing all of those things and nobody even knew you were building all those skills because there’s a joy.
LJR: That's right. That's right. And there is definitely a special sauce to that. It just doesn't happen when you put 250 girls in the woods.
KK: No, we call it planned spontaneity. You just, they think everything's happening just spur of the moment, but you've been planning it for nine months. So yes, but it was joyful. And I loved that there were college age kids there. And so that was one kind of mentoring and educating. And then the kids was a different piece. And so it really filled me up and I thought, oh, that is what I want to do. So I went back for my second summer. So I did my fourth year at Northfield Mount Hermon. And then I went back to the same camp, Camp Danbee.
And Briarly had been just harassing me for three years. She's like, you have to meet Cole Kelly. And I thought, oh great. Where does he live? And she said, Georgia. And I was like, why would I meet someone from Georgia? Like I'm in Western mass right now. But I had one day off that entire summer. It was July 31st. And I went back to the boarding school and I did my laundry and I thought: Fine, I'm just going to write to him. And so I did, and I wrote him an email and I was like, listen, this is who I am. This is what's important to me. It was like really forward. And I just thought, I'm not going to get into this unless, you know, this is going to be something real. And I hit send, and I went back to camp and we didn't, I didn't have a phone then. We didn't have computers. There was one computer on the whole camp and it was in the office. So then I would. Everybody would go to bed and it'd be like 12, 12 30. And I would sneak into the office and log onto my email and sure enough, he wrote back and he said, oh, you know, Hey, and my auto reply was on. So he kept replying to my auto reply. I thought, oh, this guy is, there's something wrong with him. And on the fourth email, he was like, oh my gosh, I'm such an idiot. He's like, that was your auto reply. And then we emailed every day and I would run down to the camp. And all of my friends there, we would say, okay, let's ask them this question. Would you rather do this or that? Do you like this or that? And so I would send him four or five questions and then he would answer them and then he'd send me four or five and it went on for about two weeks. And then we had our first phone call on my birthday, August 12th. And we had a blind date in New York City, August 26th. And that was it.
LJR: Okay. Back up. I'm sorry, this is too crazy. So what was it that Briarly saw?
KK: I think that we're both kind of nerdy and really, I don't know, good communicators or liked to communicate. We like to talk and think and read. And I mean, we're kind of irritating to other people. And so maybe she thought we'd be great for each other. Like, we're just both constantly wanting to learn about the world and talk about it and think about it. And I think she just thought, oh, it would be another person who would do that with you.
LJR: But it wasn't like he, he wasn't in this world of education or experiential learning or any of that? It was just…
KK: None of it. He was a golfer at the university of Virginia. And he lived in Athens his whole life and he was getting his masters at UGA. And he had spent his summers up in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, which is where Briarly grew up. And so they were summer friends. And so she had always known him in the summer. And I don't know, she just said, there's just something about it. You got, you guys are just perfect.
LJR: And it was true. [KK: Yeah. She was right] Because very soon later you were making plans for what happens after his MBA. You were going and getting a master's of ed at Harvard, right?
KK: Yes. Yes. Well, so we have that blind date in August and I went back to boarding school, you know, I was coaching soccer and he was back in his MBA program in Athens, and I just, you know, we talked every day and I thought, oh, this is amazing. And September 11th, I was just setting up for a soccer term. I had been like six miles in the woods that was so dirty and gross and he just drives right up in a rental car. He never told me he was coming and he just pulls up to the soccer field and he's like, Hey, what are you doing this weekend? And I screamed. And the girls were like, is that your brother? I was like, that is not my brother. And then he was making dinner that night. He ran out. Cause he knew that I was busy and he'd got stuffed and make dinner. And he was making dinner in my little apartment in the dorm. And he said, what do you want out of your life? And I said, “You.” And then I went, gosh. And that was it. And he just smiled. And I think our third date was a week long cruise in the Caribbean for Thanksgiving. And then he asked my parents in January, if he could marry me. And in March he said, Hey, because our blind date, we started on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum. So we were meeting in New York city and he's like, okay, let's just meet there. So I looked across, there were like a hundred people on the steps and I was like, oh, that's him. I was like, I just know it's him. So he said, let's go, it'll be really fun. And so we do. So in March I meet him there and. We went to the theater and the next day it's Saturday. And he's like, Hey, will you just play, play along with me. And I was like, oh sure. We were out at pizza. And he said, close your eyes and count to 20. And I said, okay, you know, I'm such a total nerd. I'm like, sure. Like I close my eyes and count to 20 and I look up and he's gone and there's this envelope there. And it's like, if you want to get your boyfriend back, you got to, and it had all these clues and I had to go to the Empire State Building and he had somebody waiting for me on the top of the Empire State Building and I had to play Jenga. And then when I won, I got the next letter and I had to go to FAO Schwartz and I had to race a kid around that was waiting for me down there. A massive scavenger hunt. And the whole time I'm like, this is so fun. Like I had no idea we were getting engaged. Like I was like, what a cool thing to do in this city. And so then it ends and I'm at the Met, and this girl makes me put on a Tiara and go up to strangers and sing my high school fight song. And she's like, but the next letter until you do this, I don't know. He wanted to make sure I had humility or something. So I did it. And then I ran down the stairs and he was down there in a suit coat on, and I was like, oh, I was like, that was so fun.
And then he got down on his knee and he asked me to marry him. I mean, it was a Saturday evening at the Met. There were hundreds of people. And I said, I just put my hand out and I go, are you serious? He's like, yeah, I can't give you the ring till you say yes. So yes. And then we went back. And he's like, okay, let's get dressed and go to dinner. You know, we called my grandma and my parents and he moved our stuff to the Waldorf and we had strawberries and champagne. You just think I'm like being a movie. And he was like, let's go to dinner. And we walk in and they go, Oh Kellys, you guys are downstairs. And the menu said, she said yes. And all of the people I was going to have as bridesmaids, he flown in and were there. So like Brierley and Amy Duggan and Anne Kontos and all of Karen Smith. Yes, it was the wildest. And I thought, well, this is a good start. And we've had a wild 20, 20 years.
LJR: Wow, what a story, what a story. And that spirit, I mean, Briarley was right, right? So that is what you wanted in your life. You wanted the experience, you wanted the joy and he's bringing that. And then you say to him, and by the way, I have this camp thing that I also love. [KK: I know.] So when, when do you get to marry those two things that week? And the next week I got into Harvard to get my master's of ed. And so I was like, well, I know I'm going to move to Cambridge. And he was like, absolutely. He said, I'll just move up there.
You know, he was finishing his MBA program. And so I thought, okay, I'll leave boarding school. You're done with your program and we'll move to Cambridge. And he's like, I guess we'll just live separately. And then, you know, get married when you're done with that program, because it was only a year. And I said, that's crazy. We're going to live in the same city? I go, let's just get married this summer. And so we were like, okay. So we called our moms and I don't know, the gods were shining on us. And we had a black tie wedding with about 200 people in August, in Atlanta. And it just worked. I don't know. My mom's like I called the place, just had a cancellation or a minister will come, you know, it was like, oh, right.
So we got married in August. We drove from our wedding to Amy Duggan's wedding. She was getting married the next Saturday. So we drove up the coast and cooked a meal at her wedding and celebrated with Amy and Ben. And then we went to Fiji and then we flew back and I started school.
And he was looking for jobs.And it just happened that the camp that I started with camp Danbee was probably, it was really early in the industry, but they were with a group that owned eight camps. It was called Camp Group. And most of the camping industry had been passed down parent to child to child, generation after generation. I mean, it was very familial business, but that group had bought up eight camps. And so my connection with those people was what happened. Camp Group called you know, a couple months into my schooling and they said we'd love to talk with you and Cole about running a camp, you know. Cole can do the business part, order the chicken nuggets and do all of that. And you can do all the kid stuff. And that's what happened. We, they offered us that spring an all-girls camp in New Hampshire. And we were 26 at the time. I mean, we had no business doing that job either. So we were taking 250 girls, you know, and tried to create amazing there and learn as we went along and we were surrounded by great people. Sue Eastman, Suzanne Eastman was a ‘99 and I played soccer with her. And she was just finishing school. So we recruited her to come and work with us and she's worked with us for 20 years. [LJR: Wow.] Yeah. We were just, we were incredibly blessed and lucky to be surrounded by people that we learned with and from and so we did the all girls camp for five years and we didn't have any kids those first couple of years. And we lived in Boston and so a family would call us from New York and say, Hey, we're thinking about your camp. And we're like, oh, we'll be there in four hours. And would just jump in the car and go down. The whole thing was an adventure. I mean, we didn't have anything tying us down. And so we worked really hard to build that camp.
And in four years it was full and we loved it and we knew that's what we wanted to do. And then we had three boys in three and a half years and kind of figured, oh yes, we figured, well, maybe the all girls camp isn't prime place to land. And I thought, well in about 15 years of boys will think it's heaven, but [LJR: Rght. Right.] long term, you know, we really wanted them to go to camp where we were. So we took one summer off and then found a co-ed camp that's in Pennsylvania and it's called Camp Weequahic. And we've been there for almost 15 years.
LJR: That is amazing. And so I can totally see…I have kids they've done the, in the woods summer camp thing forever. It's kind of like a call to either get it or you don't get it yet. We totally bought in. But I understand that part, but there's a lot to running a camp. You know, it, it magically appears and then goes away, but there's so much work throughout the year. So what does your life look like?
KK: Through the years, our boys right now are almost 17, almost 16 and 14. And the first several, I don't know, decade. Cole took the really heavy load in the off season. Sue always worked with us, so she hired the staff. And she worked all year. She has four kids of her own and she did all of the staffing for a long time. And then we have another couple that lives in Atlanta and they work with us full-time and have taken on more. So we did everything those first years. We did the business, the grounds, the plant, the property, the recruiting kids, the hiring staff, you know, and as we got bigger and got more help our roles have changed a little bit. Cole does all of the family recruiting. So I would say, he's probably gone a hundred to 120 days a year in the off season, visiting families. So you would call and say, Hey, we're interested in Camp Weequahic or you'd call a camp agent and we would send your information and Cole will fly to wherever you are. He would go to the Dominican Republic, go to Paris, go to Mexico. We have kids from Venezuela. And that's, that's how it works in the part of the industry that we're in. You go right in their home and you sit with a family and you figure out is this a good fit for you? The families that are picking the longer term summer camp, it's almost like picking a private school or like a college. You know, this is an investment. You're looking at this as being your child's summer home, probably for 6, 7, 8 years.
Our oldest son Cole just finished camp. And he's been with the same boys since he was six years old. All of them in the same cabin. He just spent the long weekend in New York City with 15 kids from camp. Some flew out from Florida, came from DC from all over. Those are his people. I mean, those are the people who will be in his wedding and the people who know him and it's, it's a huge investment and the camps are great and really different.
And so, you know, when you're looking at camp, you want to know who's the person, what are the values? What are you teaching? What's the supervision. I mean, it's the most precious thing that anybody has in their whole life is their child. And they're just handing them over to you for weeks at a time. And we take that really seriously.
And so, you know, it's important for Cole to sit in the home and, you know, look at the family and say, this is what we do. This is what we value. This is our expectation of you guys when you come. You know, we have high standards for our kids and the culture is built by the kids and the counselors. And it's really important that we're all on the same page about what, what we value.
So that's mainly what he does. And then, you know, you have the whole business. It's a multi-million dollar business that you're running. So you've got payroll and you know, all the regular things that go along with running a business. So, and that's actually what we loved about it. And what was so attractive, you think Okay in the off season, you're really hustling. You're marketing. You're getting yourself out there. You're recruiting your kids. We hire 200 people every single summer. [LJR: That’s amazing.] yes, the number of people that you come across. Thousands of amazing people that we've been able to engage with and work with and learn with. And I mean, we have people that have been at camp the whole time. We have our waterfront reactor has been there 15 years. You know, the head counselors been there 20 before we were there. The Camp Mom has been there 25 years. Like it's a family. And when you think, okay, I get to be a part of a family. We get to educate kids in the most fun way possible. All of these college kids that come in that are so ripe to learn and grow. And in reality, it is the first time that those 18, 19 20, 21 year old kids have completely shifted focus to someone else's joy and happiness. And they're not thinking about themselves or what do I want, or what would make me happy or what am I doing tonight? Like if they really buy in and do it right, they know that the joy that they'll find is in serving other people. And to watch that transformation in young people, and then to get the letters in September that say, I think about the world differently because of my experience there. Or I want to go into education because of that, or, you know, whatever it was that trajectory that changed or the mindset that somebody learned. And you just think that that is such a gift that we get to do that every year. So everything about it is hard. I mean, we have 450 kids for three weeks at a time. Just first of all, you have to keep safe. You know, you've got counselors you're bringing in that are spending time with them that, you know, you will have a limited amount of time knowing and training. You've got boats. We've got, I mean, all the things you think about and you're like, okay, that's our first priority. Just the health and wellness of 650 people. And then you go, okay, now we're going to create a program and ours is total choice. So Sue and I sat down about seven years ago at our kitchen table and said okay what would be the dream ? Would be if you could come to camp and do all the things you loved most, but never get stuck. So it's like every two days I get to change their schedules. So you could say, oh, I'm going to be in a basketball league and you get on a team and you play all the games, but maybe you did ceramics and doing it three times was enough. And so you're like, okay, now I want to switch because I want to do woodworking. I'm going to try the rock wall. And so we created a whole schedule where it’s choice like that. And so that's really fun to watch. But it's just all of the pieces of. Yeah, or we're just incredibly lucky that we get to be a part of it and work with anybody who comes to camp. I mean, we do the Myers-Briggs all the time with all of our college kids before they come in and we put them in groups and say, okay, these are your strengths and weaknesses off of this one test. And how does that relate to camp? And about 80% of the kids are ENFJ. Like that enthusiastic out there, you know, want to be on a table, screaming, dancing, and all of that. And then you get the 20% of kids that are somewhere on that introvert scale. And you think you guys are golden because you're the people who are going to sit back and you're going to say, yeah, Leslie doesn't look as engaged right now. Or she looks a little bit on the outside; let me scoop her up and bring her in. And so it's all of those pieces that you get and you think every year we get to do it a little bit better. We learn something. And so, yeah, we just we're incredibly lucky.
LJR: Well, yes, but inspired from the beginning of knowing that you're doing all these things and seeing the power of it, but that power comes from the place of really being clear about what your values are. And you've talked about that and I love that you have these guiding principles or values that everybody knows: gratitude, attitude and courage. So I can definitely understand how that's instilled in your campers. How have you seen those elements kind of reflected and grown in you over this period of time?
KK: I think the gratitude piece, it's a practice and that's what we've learned. You know, it's really easy to talk about and you can throw it out there, but until you're writing in your gratitude journal every day and you're practicing that, it doesn't feel the same. It doesn't sit the same. Like gratitude, I think once you do it like that and you see the results, it just changes the way you see the whole world.
And I mean, Cole and I…this is probably why Briarley thought we were perfect together…From our first date on, so 21 years ago, every single night, we would say, what are your three happys? Like what are the three things that made you happy today? And what's one thing that you appreciate about the other person, because we were doing a long distance thing. And so I was like, I don't know what's happening in your life. And I want to know what made you happy today. Like the little things in the big things. And so, I mean, now as parents, I mean, a lot of times it was like, oh, listening to the boy laugh in the backyard. So much pleasure. Or I don't know, like watching the sunrise when I drove Luke to school or, you know, it's not always big. But what I think it did for us is you start looking at the world in what are you appreciating. 'Cause, you know, at the end of the day, I have to say three things and I'm not going to say the same three things all the time. And I think what we learned, I mean, we're nerdy like this, but we did the five languages of love before we got married. And Cole’s, one of his is words of affirmation. And that is not, that is like number four on my list, like close to gifts. Like it just is not in my wheelhouse. I don't need it. And I don't think about it. And I thought, oh, I have to find a way to do that every day, because that is not natural for me. And when we started doing the appreciation, it kind of filled his bucket that way and what it did all day, I don't know why, I just found myself thinking, well, what's my appreciation going to be. So you'll look at the person for what nice things are you doing or what, and once you hear they're happy, he's like, I would say I’m really grateful that you took the trash out today and he's like, really? I didn't even know that meant anything to you. Like I can do that all the time. And so you start finding all the ways where you're like, oh, I had no idea they would appreciate that. And it's this small thing it's like, oh, you put your hand on my back when I was doing the dishes and it just made me feel really connected to you. And you're like, oh, that's it. Okay. You know? So it was our way of trying to figure out for each other you know what what's important and what you value and how do you stay connected.
But like that started really early in our marriage and in our relationship. And I think that's kind of what happened for us at camp was that we started to say, okay, what are the things that we see that are working and gratitude was by far and away, you know, when we started studying it, because we took it academically and anecdotally, and we were like, okay, how do we do this? Because in our girls’ camp we weren't going more off of competence and confidence. And we were looking at the girls and thinking, okay, what does camp do for you? And so we had switched a little bit. It was a little bit wider scope when we went to the co-ed camp. And so the gratitude piece came pretty naturally.
And the attitude, I think that we watched so many people and we said, what, what's the ticket here? Well, you know, what makes people function really well at camp and be able to serve other people? And it was the people who woke up and just chose their attitude. You know, it was raining and they were like, it's going to be great. We're going to do a rain dance. We're going to do this, you know, and it wasn't always easy and it wasn't great and it didn't always go their way, but they just chose it each day, each moment each morning to say, this is going to be great. I'm going to make this great. And it seemed like it gave those people so much confidence to control your day and your destiny and your feelings. And it was like, once you had that sense that you were like, I can't control a lot of things, but the things I can control, I've got ‘em. You know, I'm going to hold on to them and I'm going to make it work?. And that one became evident over years of watching people. And we were trying to pick out what made people seem kind of happy unsuccessful.
And then the courage piece came because I don't know, we read a lot about world war two and history and watched people. And it's like the tiny little bits of courage that make the biggest difference in the world. That's kind of what we found with all the human interactions, because that's what we watch. And it's not like the run in the burning building kind of courage, which that's really important, too. But with the life that we were living and the people that we were surrounded by, it was the person who would say, no, Leslie gets to come with us, you know, or no, that's not what I want to do. I want to do this. You know, and it wasn't the popular, the cool thing to do. And we realized that that was just a muscle that you build. And if you start, when kids are little teaching them to be courageous, because you know, we talk about it at orientation a lot, you know, what. You do, you know, in your gut. And it's not that hard. You know, we've lashed scenarios up on the screen and we're like, what's the right thing to do here? What's the right thing? Everybody knows. It's really hard to do it. And you start with those tiny little bits and you teach people that courage is a muscle and you practice it. And camp's a great place to practice it because there's very little risk, you know, it's very inclusive and warm place to be. And so when you step out and you fall a little bit, someone's going to scoop you up.
And so I think that that was what happened for us. It was just a little bit of study and a little bit of experience and anecdote. And as we went along, we thought what seemed like the building blocks. People really, they bought into it. And I think that it defines our culture and it gives you a framework for what's acceptable. You know, we have a lot of turnover. You have 200 people coming, they’re [from] college, they're in, they're out. And when you have kind of those building blocks of your culture and. It just keeps moving us forward in the direction that we feel really good about and are happy. And it's easy to come into our culture and our community. You know, when you have those three building blocks that people understand, it's like, oh, okay. That's how it works here. And it's not very cool to exclude people at camp, you know, it's not part of what we do and people don't celebrate that or think that you're very cool. It's like one of those places where they look at you and they're like, oh no, we won't do that here. And then everybody's like, oh, okay. That's how it is. And I think there's a comfort to that. So it's worked great for us. And I know every camp does great things. That's just where we landed.
LJR: So now we all know where we want to be spending our summers, because it sounds like through this process, you, you already started with those three values. You've been able to hone them and articulate them. And they've certainly grown in you. It sounds like we all need a dose of those things from time to time with a big heaping of joy. And I am so pleased to hear how much of that you serve into the world for other people. Kate, you're inspiring and it makes us want to live a little bit better. So thank you so much for sharing this story with us and can't wait to hear the next chapter in the evolution of it all.
KK: Well, thank you. And thank you for doing this. It has been such fun to listen to other people's journeys and to hear and celebrate what people are doing. So thank you for doing that.
LJR: That was Kate Kelly who, with husband Cole, runs Camp Weequahic, a three- or six-week sleep-away camp for girls and boys located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. When not on site each summer, the couple lives with their three boys in Athens, Georgia. You can check out their camp at Weequahic that's WEEQUAHIC.com. We are so happy to be able to infuse joy into your life each week with our guests' stories, just as Kate does at camp. You can access more wherever you find your podcasts or at RoadsTakenShow.com. I look forward to your joining me, Leslie Jennings Rowley, for future episodes of ROADS TAKEN.