Love letter to BTC

Dear Berkshire Trails Families,

As I sit down to write this, our overnight camp season has come to an end, and I find myself feeling so many emotions at once; pride, exhaustion, gratitude, excitement, and above all else, love.

I fell in love with this place.

And when I say this place, I don’t simply mean the beautiful Berkshire mountains, our lake, our fields, our cabins, or the sounds of campers cheering across camp. I mean what this place represents.

Camp brings me back to being a kid myself. I was fortunate enough to grow up in this environment, and so much of who I am today was shaped by the experiences I had at camp. The friendships. The independence. The mistakes. The victories. The laughter. The tears. The people who believed in me.

Now, having children of my own and watching them grow up in this same kind of environment, I see camp differently than I ever have before.

I understand just how powerful it is.

Camp is fun, an incredible amount of fun. Our campers spend their days running from activity to activity, jumping in the lake, competing on the fields and courts, creating, performing, cheering, laughing late into the night, and building friendships that simply cannot be duplicated in their everyday lives.

But the magic of camp goes far beyond the fun.

It happens when the camper who desperately wanted to go home on Day 1 doesn’t want to leave on the final day.

It happens when a child tries something they were convinced they couldn’t do.

It happens when a camper learns to live with someone different from them, solves a problem without a parent stepping in, gets back up after losing, performs in front of the entire camp, comforts a homesick bunkmate, or discovers something they never knew they loved.

Those moments change kids.

And we get to witness them every single day.

This work is challenging. It asks a tremendous amount of me, my family, and our incredible senior leadership team, our counselors, and tremendous support staff. There are long days, sleepless nights, difficult decisions, and moments when you wonder how you possibly have enough energy for tomorrow.

And then tomorrow comes.

You walk outside and hear the cheers. You see a camper smiling who wasn’t smiling yesterday. You watch friendships forming. You see confidence growing right in front of you.

And suddenly, you remember exactly why you do this.

We wouldn’t trade it for anything.

My life’s work has always been about building community. At different stops along my journey, that has looked different.

Berkshire Trails is the latest chapter of that life’s work and perhaps the one dearest to my heart.

This summer, we took on the enormous challenge of moving Berkshire Trails forward while honoring everything that came before us. We introduced new programs. We created new cheers. We modernized traditions and established new ones. We challenged ourselves to look at everything we did and ask how we could make the camper experience even better.

I must take a moment to thank Tedi and Liam. For nine months, the three of us planned, dreamed, debated, problem-solved, and worked tirelessly to prepare for this summer. They believed in the vision for Berkshire Trails and gave everything they had to help bring it to life. Their leadership, commitment, and love for our campers were felt every single day.

We weren’t perfect.

But we grew. We learned. We listened. And we built something very special together.

Enrollment grew approximately 25% year over year, and remarkably, about 70% of our campers were new to Berkshire Trails this summer. That meant hundreds of children and families were taking a chance on us, many experiencing our community for the very first time.

I fell in love with these campers and staff.

Their personalities. Their energy. Their humor. Their resilience. Their quirks. Their spirit.

Every camper came here with a different story, and our responsibility was to give each of them an experience that was uniquely theirs; one they could take home with them and hopefully remember for the rest of their lives.

Based on what we’ve heard from our campers and families, many of them already want more Berkshire Trails next summer.

There may be no greater compliment.

Our community also stretched far beyond the Berkshires. This summer, families (and staff) from across the country and around the world entrusted their children to us, with more than seven countries represented at camp.

How lucky are we?

How lucky are we to know these children?

How lucky are we to know their families?

And how lucky am I that you trusted me and the Berkshire Trails team with the people who matter most to you?

That trust is something I will never take for granted.

To our parents: thank you.

Thank you for taking a chance on Berkshire Trails.

Thank you for trusting our staff.

Thank you for allowing your children to be challenged, to become independent, to get dirty, to be silly, to make mistakes, to work through difficult moments, to try new things, to make new friends, and ultimately, to grow.

Thank you for believing in the power of summer camp.

As I write this, I am exhausted in just about every way imaginable.

But somehow, I am also completely energized.

Because I know what Berkshire Trails can become.

I know the community we are building.

I know the impact we can have.

And I know that this summer was only the beginning.

There are programs to improve, traditions to build, facilities to enhance, new ideas to introduce, and thousands more memories waiting to be created.

My first summer at Berkshire Trails is coming to an end.

And that means only one thing…

The countdown to Summer 2027 officially begins.

Thank you for an unforgettable first summer.

Thank you for welcoming my family and me into yours.

And most importantly, thank you for allowing us to do the greatest work in the world:

Helping kids find their path, find their passion, and find their people.

With tremendous love and gratitude,

David