Mi-A-Kon-Da: Parent Interview with Megan McGee Jennings

Watch our Parent interview with Megan McGee Jennings to hear firsthand what children experience and how they grow at Mi-A-Kon-Da.

Transcript of the interview

What’s unique about this camp that made you want to enroll your child at Mi-A-Kon-Da?

One of the things that I think was really drawing us to Mi-A-Kon-Da was the fact that the kids sleep in tents and away from their counselor, even though the counselors are very close by. We really like the idea of giving our kids that independence and sort of being able to be a little bit more in nature, just by virtue of being in a tent.

We also really like the programming at the camp. Prior to COVID, the kids could pretty much choose their activities, decide sort of what their day schedule was going to look like, and be able to select that and not have to travel in a pack with their whole group. So we like that idea of independence also, and the opportunity for choice.

It's a very small camp. It's really intimate. Everybody knows each other. It's a really beautiful island and felt very contained and away from kind of the hustle and bustle of the real world. So all of those things were selling features for us.

What would you highlight about Mi-A-Kon-Da’s programming, counselors, or facilities?

The camp counselors tend to be former campers at Mi-A-Kon-Da. So they have a really good sense of how the camp runs and the culture of the camp and are very good at fostering that and creating this sort of little sense of community or even family at the camp, which is really nice. They're very responsible. We've always felt like our kids are very well cared for by the staff. They're super attentive, making sure that when your kids are homesick, they have a place to go. Sort of a soft spot to fall.

One thing that I really like from the time that I was a camper at the camp to my own children going to the camp is that the programming has really evolved with the camp. They offer a more diverse program than when I was there, and that's really cool to see how the island has shifted with the times, with rock climbing and rowing as options.

We really like that there's a tripping program. The kids can go on short trips in the area or maybe even further afield, and there's just a lot of choice for the kids in their programming, and they can really sort of do what calls to their own interests and desires.

How did you know that Mi-A-Kon-Da was the right fit?

We knew that Mi-A-Kon-Da would be a good fit for our kids because of the small numbers at the camp. We thought that that would be a really nice environment for our kids to experience camp.

Having been a camper at Mi-A-Kon-Da myself, it was really a formative experience for me as a child. I look back on my days as a camper and as staff at Mi-A-Kon-Da as being probably some of the most important experiences in my development, where I made some of the best friends that I've ever had. And we really sort of hoped that that would be the experience for our own children.

We gave them the option of Stepping Stones, which was a really good intro to camp when they were younger. Gave them a little taste of what camp could be like. And they went to Stepping Stones and in three days were hooked and couldn't wait to start as full-time campers at the camp. So that was really what grabbed us, my own experience and then my kids' positive first experiences, which led them to be two-week campers at the camp.

Was there any change or noticeable personal growth you saw in your child after time at Mi-A-Kon-Da?

When my kids came back from their two weeks of camp last year, they were almost too confident. They were very into telling us all the things that they could do on their own, and they were not wanting us to interfere anymore. So they definitely came back very grown up after the two weeks and filled with confidence in their skills, in different camping activities, but also just confidence in their relationships with their friends that they made at camp, confident and excited about the opportunities of going back to camp and building on those skills the next year.

It's almost like they experienced camp-sickness, where you expect kids to go to camp and feel a bit homesick. But I think their experience was a little bit of coming home from camp and feeling a little bit camp-sick and wishing that it wasn't over.

How can parents overcome hesitancy to send their child away for camp?

Knowing that there's such a small camper-to-staff ratio, knowing that the staff is so close at hand all the time throughout the day and through the night, knowing that there is a nurse on the island, and knowing that there are a lot of caring individuals really close by, put us at ease knowing that our kids would be well taken care of.

We were a little bit hesitant to send our younger daughter away to camp. She was only six when she went to Stepping Stones, which was just a weekend program, and was eight when she went to camp for two weeks, and she was really reluctant. Having been home with us sort of through the pandemic, a lot of mom and dad time, going away to camp, she was nervous, which made us feel a little nervous.

Knowing that that challenge was really important for our kids at the time, needing to have some of that separation and giving them an opportunity to find that independence and to feel confident in themselves without us kind of in tow, was really very important for us about the whole camping experience.

What would you tell other parents about the overall value of sending kids to Mi-A-Kon-Da?

I think sending kids to camp gives them an opportunity to build upon skills that they don't get in school, that they might not get sort of in their day-to-day life, in the programs they participate in. It allows them to connect in a natural environment, learn a little bit about nature and how to live within nature, and to respect the world around us.

What do your children say about Mi-A-Kon-Da?

One of the things that they told us right off the bat was learning about individuals' identity and learning about pronouns and how to respectfully and appropriately address people. And they were able to really understand and internalize the importance of seeing individuals as that. So that's one of the things that they came out of their two weeks talking about as one of the primary things that they wanted to tell us about.

They love telling us about all the activities, how the activities run, what they loved about the activities, all the antics they got up to with their tent mates, special events that their counselors held for them, tea parties or special Sundays. They just loved everything.

They loved how busy they were. They loved how they had downtime, but then it was matched with activity time. Everything that happened for them at camp was a moment that they couldn't wait to tell us about.

Any more final thoughts about Camp Mi-A-Kon-Da?

If you're a parent and you're trying to decide if Mi-A-Kon-Da is the right place for your child, I would talk to your child, show them the programs, talk to the people at camp, and go to the orientation sessions. It's really amazing to have the children's questions answered and to see how that sort of helps them with some of their concerns or apprehensions about going to camp.

Also listen to your child. If they're keen about it, probably it would be a good fit. If they're keen about it and they're a bit hesitant, probably they'll be okay. And once they get there and get into the routine, it's just such a special place that it's really hard not to want to never leave that magic.

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