Group Six Campout -
During Westland’s 75th Anniversary, just a year ago, there emerged a quest among those of us visiting Cal State Northridge’s Archives to ask how far back a particular tradition went, such as Sings, Hot Lunch, or culminations. Seeking an event’s origin story became sport. One delightful discovery came our way through an alumni interview. Larry Moscowitz from the Westland Class of 1962, described the Group Six campout in great detail. And right before this most recent campout, we discovered that the Group Six campout can even be dated back to the early 1950’s. An alumnus, whose mother was a founder of the school, mailed us a bulletin from 1954 referencing the Group Six campout!
I am awestruck at the longevity of this tradition. Having chaperoned the trip since 2018, the Group Six campout has always stuck out to me as something particularly special.
My understanding of the specialness has deepened and expanded. I now understand the Group Six campout as a coming-of-age culmination – a way that the soon-to-be graduates demonstrate much of what they’ve learned and internalized at Westland as community members and friends: their independence, their commitment to the group, their creativity, the premium of play, their sense of awe and wonder (especially as it ties to nature), and the deep appreciation for lifelong learning.
This past week on the most recent Group Six campout, these values were in action as the Group Six children and their teachers travelled to Refugio State Beach. I believe that core memories were created. I also believe that the children will carry with them the values they experienced on the campout throughout their time in middle school, and I’d even say throughout their lives.
Nature, Awe & Wonder: The memorable scenes are many and specifically connect to this sliver of the Pacific’s flora and fauna. Children digging up sand crabs, squealing at some fairly gigantic and squiggly ones. Children picking up large ropes of slimy seaweed, looping the strands around their heads like lassos. Children jumping in the water with both graceful and clumsy movements, taking long walks towards tidepools, cartwheeling along the shore, collecting driftwood for future looming projects, and searching for memorable rocks, seashells, sea glass, and other tiny treasures. Children playing chase games, writing their names and messages in the sand for each other and for themselves.
The children had hours to explore, connect, and be free. The soundtrack was expressions of glee and waves crashing, as well as the shouting of anything to pay attention to: “DOLPHINS!,” “A POD OF PELICANS” and the dreaded, “JELLYFISH!” So much screaming, drowned out only by laughter and the adults yelling: “Time to reapply sunscreen!”
Nature is perhaps the most powerful way to get children (and humans) to be present in the moment. The children were present. They were in the moment.
Play and Creativity: Inextricably connected to nature, awe, and wonder are the ways that children play and express themselves creatively. The Group Six campout offers Group Sixers intentional and spacious chunks of time for free play. The trip is structured and organized, with activities geared towards problem solving and meaning making. (This year there was a survival strategy group activity and a history lesson on the land.) But part of the structure and organization incorporates intentional opportunities for children to play and invent games in order to meaningfully connect with one another and be.
To be eleven- and twelve-years-old is varied. Many children are squarely straddling childhood and adolescence. Some are very much children, some are already presenting and moving through the world as teenagers. A unifying factor to this variance in development is the value and penchant for play.
The teachers and children pack all types of games and activities to the beach, and lay them out for exploration during the two-night trip: spike ball, soccer balls, footballs, bananagrams, frisbees, chess, watercolor, loads of yarn for “godseyes,” and nighttime games of “Gotcha!,” Westland’s spin on “Flashlight Tag.”
The children, in their freedom, find their grounding after a busy year full of school work, middle school outplacement to-do’s, and afterschool activities. On the Group Six campout, the kids get to just be kids. In their play and full expression, they both get to be themselves and even lose a sense of themselves.
The Group – Community Building in Action: In Westland’s mission, there is an emphasis on an individual’s connection and responsibility to the group. This value is embodied on the campout – starting the very minute the group steps off the bus.
With ranging capacity for self-starting (which the adults support), the children unload their duffels and the myriad supplies and gear, and they set up camp. The children take care of their own supplies, and they help each other. They make collective decisions: Where do we imagine the kitchen? Where do we set up the first aid station? Which table should serve as the craft table? Where do we put the dish soap? The tablecloths? Where do we put the mini white board for the daily agenda? When do we start cooking dinner? (When can we play!?)
The children have been divided up into working committees that spread out their responsibilities of preparing and cleaning up meals for the 20 or so people there. The children themselves plan the meals ahead of time, prep the meals as much as possible at school, then prepare the meals in the campsite “kitchen.” To see children at the grill flipping pancakes for 20, checking the “doneness” of taco meat, taking orders and tracking “corn or flour,” chopping bell peppers and cucumbers, and scrubbing pots and pans is pointedly moving for me. The children get the satisfaction of doing the important work of providing a delicious meal and supporting the cleanliness of a space on behalf of the common good.
Sometimes this comes with sacrifice. When one such committee was washing and drying dishes, they gazed forlornly at the play that was happening. Children are given the opportunity to practice patience. I supported a group of children trying to light a fire for 30 minutes, persevering without the aid of any artificial firestarter. Being part of a community comes with so much joy and benefits; it also comes with sacrifice and challenge.
Independence: Children’s individual sense of self dances and flows with their commitment to the group. By flexing their muscles of independence, children learn competency, perseverance, and capableness. This growth often happens during tricky moments that might initially feel like setbacks. As my own 16-year-old daughter said last week, when reflecting on her own school year, “Growth is not linear.”
Challenges abounded at this last campout. There were comically bold sea gulls invading the kitchen on the daily, which the children had to problem solve. (Strategies abounded!) A plate accidentally left out meant ants taking over said plate, and the owner of that plate needed to problem solve. There was sadness being away from home and the comforts of one’s own bed. A tricky interaction with a friend. A nasty splinter. A nasty sunburn. Feeling left out of a game. The impacts of joking gone wrong. The perils of forgetting to pack an item. A pair of shoes unexpectedly getting wet. A child misplacing the one fork they brought. And the occasional need to reflect and account with teachers (and me!) on not-the-best decision making. All of this – all of it – happens every year.
And here’s the catch. These moments of disequilibrium might be where the most growth and memory making occurs. We want children to know that they can do hard things. And that if something is overwhelming, they are comfortable and confident enough to ask for support, which is an essential component of independence.
Gratitude: Having recently served on a Staff committee that strove to articulate culminations, I learned that culminations are considered an essential departure point for more learning. I hope the children learn that they are capable in their independence. That freedom and extra time can perhaps best be used for free play, invention, and time spent in conversations with friends. (I’ll insert: not screens.) I hope they learn that nature is healing. And lastly, that gratitude connects us to others and to the present moment as well.
At one of the evening campfires, after sweet renditions of “Let It Be” and “Country Roads” (accompanied by a Group Sixer on guitar), the Class of 2026 shared appreciations for one another, the campout process, the Staff, and their favorite moments from both the trip and their years at Westland.
I sat back, mesmerized by these children. It is a gift to witness them forming – and in many ways solidifying – their values in real time as they leave childhood and enter adolescence.
When we talk about lifelong learning at Westland, we are talking about more than social studies, math, science, literacy, and the arts. We are talking about lifelong learning connected to what it means to be human: to be a friend, a community member, a citizen, and yes, a camper.
