Weekly Update: August 2, 2026

In David Brooks recent article, “The People Who Will Thrive in the AI Age” he posits that, “When we are surrounded by machines that know a lot about a lot of subjects, what really distinguishes people is their desire to work hard and put knowledge to creative effect.” He believes that helping people seek out situations that require “cognitive complexity” is essential for human growth, advancement and happiness. He asks,

“How do we train people to see their life as a hero’s journey in which they take on difficult missions that they may fail at and that will certainly involve pain and suffering? How do we form people so they have an explorer’s heart, a willingness to endure, an ability to struggle on, even when their body and mind are telling them to give up, to reach new destinations and figure stuff out?”

Without coming off too glib, I think we can all say to Mr. Brooks in response: you send kids to camp.

Over the last week, we have seen campers and staff take on difficult missions (mountain climbs, horse trips, rock climbing routes, long hikes, hard conversations with peers, miserable weather, etc.) and–in the moment–not be super happy about it (we will let “pain and suffering” be subjective here). And yet, they felt the success of their endurance, their compassion, their perseverance and their desire to “reach new destinations” when they returned from their trips and adventures both full of excitement and grounded in their own unique sense of self.

The progression of camp helps campers build and deepen their own intrinsic motivation because it is based (loosely) in self-determination theory. As Brooks writes, “People feel motivated when they are put in situations that give them autonomy (I’m in control of my choices), competence (I’m developing my skills), and relatedness (people here care about me).” This is how camp works: kids choose their own trips and activities; they are seen, acknowledged and celebrated for what they bring to the community; and those traits build a true “community of individuals” where we can accomplish more because of our collective strengths. As our RN, Bridget said upon reading the article, “#campdoesthat.”

The first week of camp for our Sanborn Junior campers was an incredible success with horseback rides, camping trips, Opening Campfires and plenty of playtime, imagination and fun. These kids remind everyone at camp to connect with their own sense of wonder and our own ability to play hard, sleep well and get up and do it all over again. They are having a ball! We had a camp tour over the weekend and a number of the brand new Junior campers declared, “You HAVE to come to this camp! It is THE BEST!” before sprinting off again to find their friends.

Month-long campers at High Trails had a very successful long trip week, with successful summits on every trip and miles and miles logged in the saddle and on the water. With the rains we had last week there were plenty of moments when everyone felt like we were IN the water, but the skies cleared and jeans and socks and boots and underwear all dried out, and everyone returned to camp on Thursday and Friday absolutely triumphant. One of our favorite lines from the Brooks article reads, “it is only by making passionate commitments that a person builds herself into a self.” Over the course of this last week, our High Trails campers made passionate commitments to both themselves and to each other and they all experienced success together because of it.

Big Spring month-long campers continued their explorations of Colorado on mountain climbs, overnight horse trips, river two days, Lord of the Rings inspired overnights, and huge “bomber” (full day) hikes of the entire Sanborn property and of Pikes Peak. In addition to trips, our older campers made up skits about their SOLE/CORE service learning trips for earlier in the session and presented them to the rising 7th and 8th graders; there were some questionable verdicts during the beloved Kangaroo Court evening activity; and the boys settled into the rhythm of the days with plenty of book reading, hammock chilling, Magic the Gathering playing, woodworking and crafts at Big Deal Hall and quite a few morning swims.

All of the campers had moments this week when they demonstrated autonomy, competence and relatedness–plus they had fun doing it. They also encountered obstacles, solved problems, and struggled personally and interpersonally. Jane Sanborn has decided that, at camp, “AI” stands for “Authentic Interconnections” because–unlike Claude or ChatGPT drawing on a massive body of information–we are more low-tech and are utilizing the strengths and knowledge within ourselves and within the people around us. This means we do not always have all of the answers…and that is okay because it feeds our cognitive fire to “figure stuff out.”

This motivation will be on full display during our final week of Summer 2026: Big Spring month-long campers will head out on their 3, 4 or 5 day long trips while High Trails month-long campers will have a number of different all day opportunities, another set of overnights and the much-anticipated JC Dinner. There will be Talent Shows, Last Chance Hikes, and plenty of plane letters (notes of gratitude to friends and staff) written during this final week. Our Junior campers will continue to maximize each and every day while continuing to practice community living skills and deepen their own sense of self as they pack their own backpacks, clean up their living spaces, wait patiently for their turn in line at the camp store and realize that horses are big, funny, a little stinky and far less scary than they may have thought a week ago.

There is a bumper sticker that reads, “What if the Hokey Pokey IS What it is All About?” At this point in the summer, when we are trying to squeeze every last moment from each ever-shortening day (which means running through every song and table pounding chant imaginable, every single day, the Hokey Pokey included) we are a little bit loathe to think about the days AFTER August 10th. So we aren’t going to do that just yet, we are going to climb and dance and sing and ride to the end of each amazing rainbow that seemed to show up after every storm last week and we are going to continue to seek the Authentic Interconnections and propulsive possibility that Brooks alludes to in his final few paragraphs:

‘Despite what the rationalists used to tell us, life is not mostly about solving problems. Any computer can do that. Life is a pilgrimage, a journey—it’s going somewhere, growing from experience, expanding yourself, reaching for some possibility that you do not yet possess. The defining human features therefore are propulsions—the drives that push us to take on mental effort and overcome difficulty—and aspirations: knowing where you want to go, what purpose you serve, what kind of person you’d like to be.’

#CampCanDoThat