Symbolic Analysis: Don Lee Camp and Retreat Center
Introduction
When a place transforms from a location you visit into an institution, the symbolic frame plays a large part in that transformation. Over the last 50 years, Don Lee Camp and Retreat Center developed from a rustic summer camp center utilized 7 to 8 weeks a year into a year-round destination where school children learn about marine life, pastors enjoy family time, community members enjoy Sunday dinner, and thousands of children and teenagers enjoy a wonderfully rich summer camp experience. Tradition, values, rituals, and leadership created this transformation. As Camp Don Lee moves forward into the future, especially with a new director, it must tap into the same transformative …show more content…
Goldenbaum-Yang shared that returning staff resist changing this worship rhythm, even for a good reason. Some of the youngest campers struggle to stay awake for worship at 8:00pm. For them, moving worship to 7:00 pm and having optional game time move to 8:00 pm would allow the younger campers to head to the cabins by 7:30 and begin settling down for the night. However, this rhythm of closing the day with worship holds meaning and value for staff and campers who have attended Camp Don Lee in the past. Talk of changing that pattern caused protests from the staff. They did not want to change “how we do things at Camp Don Lee.” Goldenbaum-Yang evaluated the cost of change and decided that the value of moving worship earlier did not outweigh the cost of the relationship capital necessary to enact the change.
Secondly, Camp Don Lee creates culture through worship songs. Because the community values worship, the worship leader plays a key role at camp in the summer. Sometimes the camp has a guest musician come in for the night or for the weekend. Goldenbaum-Yang partners with this music leader to develop the theme with appropriate music to underscore the message of the evening. Layering helps the worshipper hear and understand both content and theme more …show more content…
These imperfect people do extraordinary things and impact society in positive ways. Bolman and Deal remind us that “exploits of heroes and heroines are lodged in our psyches. We call upon them in times of uncertainty or stress.” At Camp Don Lee, heroes rise partially from the longevity of staff or campers who attend many years. Others build off a person’s “big personality,” according to Goldenbaum-Yang. Big personalities can have positive and negative impacts on the community at camp. She goes on to describe one unsuspected hero who would not rise to hero status in typical youth culture. This young man was not athletic or especially attractive. Other students in high school would not find him particularly remarkable. However at Camp Don Lee, people did not make fun of him as they did back home. Instead, campers and staff embraced this young man for who he was. He “was loved that way,” according to Goldenbaum-Yang. She also commented that in this case, his hero status gained momentum and carried across seasons of camp and even into
Introduction
When a place transforms from a location you visit into an institution, the symbolic frame plays a large part in that transformation. Over the last 50 years, Don Lee Camp and Retreat Center developed from a rustic summer camp center utilized 7 to 8 weeks a year into a year-round destination where school children learn about marine life, pastors enjoy family time, community members enjoy Sunday dinner, and thousands of children and teenagers enjoy a wonderfully rich summer camp experience. Tradition, values, rituals, and leadership created this transformation. As Camp Don Lee moves forward into the future, especially with a new director, it must tap into the same transformative …show more content…
Goldenbaum-Yang shared that returning staff resist changing this worship rhythm, even for a good reason. Some of the youngest campers struggle to stay awake for worship at 8:00pm. For them, moving worship to 7:00 pm and having optional game time move to 8:00 pm would allow the younger campers to head to the cabins by 7:30 and begin settling down for the night. However, this rhythm of closing the day with worship holds meaning and value for staff and campers who have attended Camp Don Lee in the past. Talk of changing that pattern caused protests from the staff. They did not want to change “how we do things at Camp Don Lee.” Goldenbaum-Yang evaluated the cost of change and decided that the value of moving worship earlier did not outweigh the cost of the relationship capital necessary to enact the change.
Secondly, Camp Don Lee creates culture through worship songs. Because the community values worship, the worship leader plays a key role at camp in the summer. Sometimes the camp has a guest musician come in for the night or for the weekend. Goldenbaum-Yang partners with this music leader to develop the theme with appropriate music to underscore the message of the evening. Layering helps the worshipper hear and understand both content and theme more …show more content…
These imperfect people do extraordinary things and impact society in positive ways. Bolman and Deal remind us that “exploits of heroes and heroines are lodged in our psyches. We call upon them in times of uncertainty or stress.” At Camp Don Lee, heroes rise partially from the longevity of staff or campers who attend many years. Others build off a person’s “big personality,” according to Goldenbaum-Yang. Big personalities can have positive and negative impacts on the community at camp. She goes on to describe one unsuspected hero who would not rise to hero status in typical youth culture. This young man was not athletic or especially attractive. Other students in high school would not find him particularly remarkable. However at Camp Don Lee, people did not make fun of him as they did back home. Instead, campers and staff embraced this young man for who he was. He “was loved that way,” according to Goldenbaum-Yang. She also commented that in this case, his hero status gained momentum and carried across seasons of camp and even into