Do You Speak Deerhorn?

Do You Speak Deerhorn?

We love welcoming new campers into the Deerhorn Family. We do our very best to ensure their transition into camp is a smooth one. But those first days of camp, it can be a little overwhelming, especially when people around you are using words you’ve never heard before. It doesn’t take long before you know […]

The Glue

Saturday night will go down in history as one of those epic Deerhorn nights. About 100 of us gathered in Chicago to celebrate the 50th birthday of a Deerhorn legend, Brian McFadden.   Brian applied to work at camp in 1986, and was told by Big D that he didn’t need any more staff.  Lucky […]

Choosing

How is it possible that one job as a camp director can be the best part of our job as well as the worst?  On the one hand, we are making dreams come true for four longtime Deerhorn campers.  On the other hand, we are sharing news of disappointment to their peers who were not […]

A Look Back at Leaders-McKinley Shea

We have four amazing leaders this summer, leading our four camp teams, and we have been doing a blog series on looking back at their first year at camp.  In case you missed the first three, Patrick Drake is leading the Chippewa, and you can find his first year memories HERE.  Griff Parry is leading […]

Choosing Joy

One of the quotes from our surveys of 2014 said “At Deerhorn, I learned that things don’t always go your way and while you think things might stink, if you look on the bright side it will be a lot better.”  I love knowing that kids take that away from camp, choosing to “greet the […]

A Look Back at Leaders-Charlie Stelnicki

(This is a post from Charlie’s mom, Carol, which we originally ran in February, about Charlie’s beginning at Deerhorn. This summer will be his sixth and he is leading the Apache.) “It takes a village”, the saying goes.  I say “It takes a camp”; if that camp is Deerhorn.   Every life has ups and […]

A Look Back at Leaders-Patrick Drake

Second in our “Look Back” series is Patrick Drake.  He is from Wilmette, Illinois, and will be leading our Chippewa.  This is what his parents have to say about Patrick’s first summer at Deerhorn. In the summer of 2009, having just turned 10, Patrick took off for 10 days at Camp Deerhorn with his best friend, […]

A Look Back at Leaders-Griff Parry

Our leaders for the summer of 2015 have 28 years of Deerhorn experience between them.  They are amazing guys who we are proud to call friends.  They have shown themselves to be confident, mature, kind young adults, and they live the Creed every day of their lives.  You could call them “Deerhorn Pros.” But every […]

Parenting With Kindness

Every day at Deerhorn, we talk about “living the Creed.”   Kids hear us discussing what it means to “play every game on the level,” to “be a booster, rather than a knocker,” and to “be kind because manliness requires kindness.”  When kids have to come to the office to discuss a disagreement they had […]