Northern Light Spring 2021

Last summer we were incredibly blessed to run a successful summer camp serving 450+ campers and 100 staff. That involved massive sacrifices by our team to re-write the program with extensive modifications in 6 six weeks’ time! Summer staff committed to being at camp for the entire 7 weeks without any trips home and received half of their anticipated salary due to the reduced length of the summer season. The sacrifice was worth it!

I hardly need to say this to parents who have been living with children in the home, as you’ve had first-hand experience. The impact of social isolation, inactivity, screen time, interrupted school, and social disruption is impacting their mental and physical health, their learning, and their social development among other things. The potential long-term impact on an entire generation will be significant. Now let’s talk about the summer camp environment: lots of people, lots of activities, zero screens, all-in active engagement. In a summer camp experience, kids are active, they’re outdoors, and they share life together with friends and mentors. This is exactly what our kids need always, but especially now. 

In our planning and execution for last summer, we discovered that intentional mitigation efforts work. These included pre-arrival quarantine and testing, using cohort models, monitoring symptoms, physically distancing, using masks when mixing with non-cohort groups/individuals, increased hygiene measures, enhancing cleaning and disinfection, keeping programming outdoors, and attending to indoor ventilation. We put all of these practices into place last summer at HoneyRock—and they worked. We had zero outbreaks of COIVD-19 after hosting campers and staff on site.  We are confident that we can do it again with clearer knowledge gained over the past year.

You are most likely aware that the CDC has reported that collected data from across the world shows it is safe to make the shift back to in-person learning for schools in the U.S. “Children, especially those under 13, are less susceptible to infection, less likely to experience severe symptoms, far, far, far, far less likely to be hospitalized or die if they are infected and are less likely to transmit the disease if infected.” Children are at significantly less risk of contracting or spreading COVID-19.

We are planning to run a full summer in 2021. I do acknowledge, however, that things could change at any moment, especially as the COVID-19 variants continue to emerge. But, what we do know, after a year of living with COVID-19, can give us more confidence to proceed. We are planning our programs now with faith and determination. Please tell your neighbors, friends and relatives: HoneyRock is open and thriving!

A Note from the Executive Director | The End of a Chapter at HoneyRock: Saying Goodbye to Erin Sharp | In Memory of Dr. Al Smith, Ginny Elsen | What's New on the HoneyRock Blog | HoneyRock Introduces an Outdoor and Adventure Leadership Concentration in the Global Leadership M.A. | HoneyRock is Hiring! | Meet HoneyRock Students

The end of a chapter always comes with the emotions that follow an ending as well as the excitement of what awaits as you turn the next page. 

HoneyRock has been a huge part of my life story, calling it home as I walked in my dad's shadow and encountered my growing up years in the woods nestled next to Long Lake. I found my life passion there as my eyes were opened to the world of horses. It was a safe, exciting place to start and a perfect springboard as I launched into my adult life.

2013 arrived and HoneyRock again became a part of my life story along with my little family. Learning and growing as I had the great honor of leading some of the best people a person could know throughout the seasons.

A dream of Jonathan and mine has been to live a life where we grow and manage our food teaching our kids as we too learn from the powerful mysterious ways of the land. I knew that if we were to fully step into this farming role, I couldn’t realistically split my time between our farm and HoneyRock along with being a mom and wife. It was time to make a big decision 1) allow this property to be a quiet place to rest and call home and continue at HoneyRock or 2) take a step of faith. Leave the known as I join my family to farm. Along with the added bonus of being able to operate my own equestrian programs from my backyard close to my kids.

Through lots of prayer the word I received was “it’s time to go home”. The decision was equal parts easy and hard. Hard in that I love my job at HoneyRock and the adventures that unfold there. Easy in that even as awesome as HoneyRock is it could not come even close to competing with the ability to live into a dream, start up my own equestrian program and do it all at home with my kids along for every step of the wild ride!

Thank you to all the people who I got to share space with at HoneyRock. Those who were adventurous enough to work alongside me. Parents who entrusted their precious kids to come learn from me and my fellow full-time staff who like teammates walked alongside me through the years. I will miss the daily adventures with you and treasure deeply the moments we shared.

The HoneyRock horses. The faithful, dedicated, hardworking horses. They were my teachers. Much of what I know is due to horses I’ve shared space with. Well done gentle teachers. It’s time for you to spread your instruction to others. I leave you in good hands. 

My last day at HoneyRock is February 12. I am so excited to get started full-time on the farm. I know the adventures that await in the next chapter hold so much for me and my family and I can hardly wait!

Jonathan and I hope that many of you get to be a part of our farming story and can’t wait to see how it all falls together!

Wheaton College Graduate School, in partnership with HoneyRock Center for Leadership Development, is introducing an optional track within the Master of Arts degree in Global Leadership (MAGL): Outdoor Ministry. This additional Master’s level option strives to equip ministry professionals that would like to add an outdoor ministry emphasis to their current credentials. 

The MAGL courses are offered in online, hybrid, and intensive formats so students can participate from a distance while maintaining employment. Outdoor/adventure programs are on the rise in colleges and universities across the country (i.e., campus recreation programs, outdoor leadership degrees, and orientation programs like Wheaton Passage).

This MAGL track in Outdoor Ministry would be very different from the current Outdoor and Adventure Leadership (OAL) M.A., which attracts early career and recent college graduates who are pursuing a program management degree. The MAGL with a track in Outdoor Ministry has been developed to serve currently practicing, mid-career professionals who desire enhanced training, want to move to senior-level leadership within growing organizations, or those switching from careers in higher education, church ministry, or other fields to leadership in outdoor, adventure-based, or camp-related ministries.