2025 Yates' Yak: When Character Leads, Others Follow

Our annual Grow & Behold Magazine will be arriving in homes over the holiday season! This magazine is not only a yearbook documenting those who were part of the 2025 summer, but is also full of alumni updates, community news, and camp articles.

Below is the “Yates’ Yak” article from the latest Grow & Behold issue - We hope you’ll enjoy the magazine, and join us in a feeling of gratitude and excitement for the summers ahead!

When Character Leads, Others Follow

2025 Yates’ Yak

We know that camp strengthens character – but not just for the campers.

The articles in this year’s Grow & Behold issue feature stories of determination, integrity, humility, honesty, resilience, and independence. You’ll read examples of character seen in first-year campers who persevere through challenging camp activities, returning campers who continue to live by the FCC Code at home, the kitchen team members who serve camp even when everyone else is asleep, and alumni who model character in the way they give back.

However, one aspect of camp often overlooked by parents is the unique way these character-building benefits extend to the staff experience. Working at camp is sometimes dismissed as just a “fun way to spend your summer.” Though that is also true, the values that counselors gain are hard to replicate with any other job or internship opportunity.

I often think back to my own time working at camp during the summers between college semesters. I had to learn to be flexible, advocate for my campers, and communicate face to face with peers, parents, directors, and boys of all ages. I was given incredible responsibility, entrusted not only with teaching an activity, but caring for the well-being of the most important thing in a parent’s life.

Working as a camp counselor, I practiced time management and organizational skills when planning adventure trips for paddling. I had to observe and follow up with my campers each week, sharing their goals and progress by writing weekly parent letters. It was one of the first times that I realized others were looking up to me to model character in my actions.

No question, camp was a fun way to spend my summer. But more than that, it was also a challenging job that gave me greater personal growth and hands-on experience than any other internships I completed.

In my first job after college, I worked as a commercial real estate property manager and later transitioned to the developer side of the business, something that on the surface doesn’t seem to have anything to do with summer camp.

However, I drew on the experiences and character-building skills that I gained from working at camp almost every day. Risk management, project planning, executing a timeline, anticipating potential issues, communicating with a wide range of parties – I soon realized that I had practice in all these areas thanks to my experience as a camp counselor, and later serving as the lead for the paddling program and also as a Line Head.

My time at Falling Creek had such a big impact because of the expectation of excellence placed on us as staff, an expectation I continued to hold for myself in my future endeavors outside camp.

The beauty of camp is that it is a cycle of mutual growth. Not only do campers learn values from their counselors, counselors see positive character values in action from their campers too.

Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” It is this shared, continuous sharpening that makes the Falling Creek experience not just a “summer of fun,” but a foundational stepping stone to a life of character, long after the summer has ended.

Looking to read past Grow & Behold Issues? You can read all the previous ones here!

Know an outstanding young person who would make a great camp counselor? Encourage them to apply!

Are you an alumnus looking to share your news with the camp community? Send us a message! You can email