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On the morning of November 3rd, 2020, Mindy Yeager, Staffing Director at Avid4 Adventure sat at her desk in her home office in the middle of an important Zoom call with CEO, Paul Dreyer. He was about to break the wonderful news when Mindy's youngest son burst into her office. He needed help with an assignment from his online schooling. The CEO, knowing her son by name, kindly waved, said hello, and asked how school was going. Perhaps an awkward incident elsewhere, but not at Avid4 Adventure.

We say this a lot—our staff are truly special. At most other summer camps, there are not many requirements for prospective candidates and staff are typically between the ages of 16-18. Standard qualifications usually include having prior experience with kids, being able to lead a group of kids, and implement planned curriculum and activities.

In the United States and across the world, the summer camp industry was hit incredibly hard due to COVID-19. Approximately 62% of summer camps had to close in 2020 and some may never open back up again. Fortunately, due to our entire headquarters team quickly jumping into action and some extraordinary leadership, we were still able to serve our mission to empower kids to get outdoors while keeping campers and staff safe.

Improved creativity, focusing on the present moment through mindfulness, increased confidence, enhanced mental health—these are just a few of the incredible benefits getting outdoors can offer to both kids and adults. But what if simply going out in nature at a young age actually had an impact on how our brains develop? You may want to think twice about cancelling your plans to go on that hike with your child because it turns out that outdoor experiences do have a profound effect on brain development in several ways.

The summer of 2020 has impacted virtually every aspect of our lives and summer camps is no exception. In mid-March we began planning for what our summer camp programs might look like in 2020.