Arriving at Camp Harbor View the challenge course immediately catches the eye. With a rock wall towering over 50 feet above the flat Long Island landscape, it’s hard to miss. It’s a sign you’ve reached Boston’s Island of Opportunity and a symbol of summer fun. Not only is the challenge course a blast, but it’s also a powerful tool to teach campers leadership skills and teamwork while developing their confidence and trust in their peers.
Camp Harbor View is built around opening opportunities for young people to explore, learn, and experience as much as possible — all year long. Youth should feel comfortable and safe and yet have opportunities to stretch and discover. Some take to the arts pavilion, where they push their creative boundaries. Others seek sailing and swimming and sports, and everyone gets a chance on the challenge course.
The course empowers campers’ critical thinking and creative problem solving. An important part of the experience is learning from frustrations and disappointments and working together to successfully adapt.
Effective teamwork is essential in every exercise. “While our campers – middle school kids from throughout the City of Boston – swing for the fences and climb toward the sky to look out over Boston Harbor and the city skyline, they are putting trust in their peers in pursuit of a shared goal.” Josh Waxman, Deputy Director of Camp Harbor View, explains. “I think that is incredibly powerful. The communication and collaboration required to make the whole system work is also worth emphasizing; it is a team exercise. Friendships are formed and relationships are strengthened on the challenge course for sure.”
Next time you’re on the island to hear the distinctive call of 3. 2. 1. and witness a brave camper catapult through the air, think of the courage, conviction and strong community behind that crowning moment.
BOSTON (The Boston Globe) – Sporting pink reflective sunglasses that matched her bright lipstick, Lisa Fortenberry clapped and yelled “Day one, baby!”
In front of her, campers exited their buses in single file Monday. Some tried to keep a cool countenance — one even kept his arms crossed as he strode along — but the staff’s energetic welcome was tough to resist. When the teenager thought no one was looking, he let a smile cross his face.
The campers were headed for a boat that would take them to Camp Harbor View, where a high-ropes course cuts the skyline, orange flags line a scenic boardwalk onto the island, and waves crash against the rocky waterline next to the basketball and tennis courts.
Teens in the Camp Harbor View Leadership Academy are gaining new skills and developing campaigns to have a positive impact on social issues, thanks to a new program in partnership with AT&T.
The Positively Digital program will include hands-on training for teens in grades 9-11 in Camp Harbor View’s year-round leadership development program. AT&T selected Camp Harbor View, The Base, and Boys & Girls Clubs of Boston as partners in the project and it kicked off with a panel discussion June 5th at the Boston Public Library.
“While we need to be cognizant of too much screen time and other connectivity dangers like cyberbullying, trolls, and the spread of false information, we think it is time to flip the script a bit and take advantage of an opportunity that is at hand,” the three wrote.
“All of us — parents, teachers, mentors, youth organizations — need to empower kids to think differently about technology and use it as a tool for positive change.”
View updates from the launch event on Instagram and from AT&T— and follow us for more updates as the teens roll out their campaigns.
Over 900 guests joined Camp Harbor View in celebrating the 12th Annual Beach Ball Gala on Saturday, June 8th at The Warehouse at Flynn Cruiseport Boston.
Jack Connors, Jr., Co-founder and Chairman of Camp Harbor View, was joined by Tim Ferris of Massachusetts General Physicians Organization, Sonja Kelly of the Kelly Family Foundation and Joseph Nolan of Eversource Energy in co-hosting this year’s event.
During the program, Governor Baker and Mayor Walsh joined Jack Connors, Jr. in addressing the impact and growth of Camp Harbor View over the past 13 years. Along with Sharon McNally and Lisa Fortenberry, Camp Harbor View’s President and Executive Director respectively, guests also heard from Danah Blake, a youth worker focused on the 10th grade Leader in Training cohort, and Kelsy, a participant in the LIT program, about the influence of meaningful mentorship in both of their lives.
This year’s Beach Ball, produced by Bryan Rafanelli of Rafanelli Events, highlighted year-round programming with the theme Camp Harbor View 365. Learn more about the work we do throughout the year with the short video below that premiered at the event.
Today is the first day of Black History Month and we’re excited to share with you an initiative we’ll be engaging in all month long. In our teen programming and on our social media channels, we’ll be celebrating the rich (and complicated) history of being black in Boston. We’re calling the project #BostonBlackHistory and we would like you to be a part of it.
Getting involved is really quite simple — we’ll be posting images and stories from leaders, activists, and change agents in our city’s black history throughout the month of February to Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, and our website. However, there’s absolutely zero chance that we can do justice to about four centuries of black history by ourselves; that’s where you come in.
We’re hoping you’ll join us in using the hashtag #BostonBlackHistory and posting stories and memories to your own social media profiles or to the profile of your school, company, or organization. What stories have you lived — whether they’re about you, or your family, your friends, your community? What stories or heroes from this city’s history have inspired you? Maybe you remember when Martin Luther King, Jr., led thousands in a march from Roxbury to the Boston Common to protest school segregation. Maybe you went to Burke High School with Donna Summer. Maybe your own mom or dad or grandmother is a part of #BostonBlackHistory. We want to hear your stories.
Subscribe to our emails to make sure you don’t miss anything — we’ll be sending a few updates on the project throughout the month.
We’re looking forward to digging into our city’s rich history with you.
Jack Connors was a founding partner of Boston marketing firm Hill Holliday, but it’s his work in his “retirement years” as chairman of the nonprofit Camp Harbor View that he’s more excited to talk about these days.
BOSTON (CBS) – It was a summer camp surprise like no other when Big Papi visited Camp Harbor View, inspiring and encouraging the young people there. The camp works with at-risk kids from Boston’s inner-city neighborhoods. The message David Ortiz brought was perfect.
The kids roared their welcome for the former Red Sox slugger. They had no idea he would visit the camp on Long Island in Boston Harbor Thursday.
BOSTON (The Boston Globe) – Sitting near the shore on a bucolic Boston Harbor island, 17-year-old Lereca Rodrigues thought back to when a cousin was shot last year in an inexplicable act of violence.
“He didn’t have that camp, or that support from somebody else behind him, or family to keep him off the streets,” the high school student from Dorchester said.
Rodrigues, however, has that support: Camp Harbor View on Long Island, which she has attended since she was 11. She was among 100 former campers who have returned to become leaders in training, spending the summer learning how to mentor the next generation of Boston youths in civic engagement and community action.
BOSTON (WBZ-TV) – They are city kids learning real life business skills, while making money for college. It’s happening on Hannah Farm, on Long Island in Boston Harbor.
The innovative program is preparing young people for the future, and making fresh, local food available in Boston neighborhoods.
Every day kids from Camp Harbor View work the one-acre field of Hannah Farm, helping plant, grow and harvest.
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BOSTON (The Boston Globe) – In the midst of serene Boston Harbor, the sounds from one vessel punctuated the waters as 450 young passengers, many with tear-stained cheeks, made emotional farewells.
They sobbed, cheered, laughed, and shouted. They made bold declarations — “I’m going to miss you guys!” one camper announced into a can of Pringles converted into a megaphone — and vowed to stay in touch as the Provincetown II sailed away from Long Island on Thursday.
What could justify such varied, frenzied emotions?
