We are excited for the next chapter at 4-H Camp Shankitunk and are now accepting applications for our next Camp Director!
Jon has made the difficult decision to step back from his role at 4-H Camp Shankitunk. We are grateful that he will continue to be a resource and a familiar face at camp next summer (and in the woodshop of course)! We want to take a moment to recognize and thank him for his dedication, leadership, and countless contributions to 4-H Camp Shankitunk. Below is a letter that Jon would like shared with our camp community. Please join us in wishing him well!
Hello Shankitunk Families, Alumni, and Friends!
As we look back on another great summer at 4-H Camp Shankitunk, I would like to take a moment to thank everybody for helping create an incredible experience for our campers. Whether you’re a camper, parent, staff, volunteer, or a community member who supported us from behind the scenes, we couldn’t have done any of it without you. Thank you.
For generations 4-H Camp Shankitunk has been a place where young people, campers and staff, come together to make lasting friendships, discover new interests, overcome challenges, build confidence, and create memories that stay with them long after the campfires have gone out. This tradition has been passed on by countless campers, families, staff members, and supporters over the past 99 years. I am incredibly proud to have been part of that tradition as a camper, counselor, CIT Director, and Camp Director.
After a great deal of thought, prayer, and reflection, I have decided to take a step back from my role as Camp Director at 4-H Camp Shankitunk. It has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and it has been truly an honor and a privilege. I have been lucky enough to see so many campers grow into themselves and then return as staff members to inspire their own campers. I have had the pleasure of working alongside some truly amazing people who pour their heart and soul into making each summer at Shankitunk even better for the next generation. This is the heart of what makes 4-H Camp Shankitunk the special place that it is; the tradition of each generation passing its compassion, patience, dedication, and love for Shankitunk onto the next. As it still says in the craft hall, “The burning logs give back the glow of summer suns of long ago.” Thank you for trusting me in leading this tradition.
That being said, I am not leaving Shankitunk altogether. I will continue to be involved and will still be at camp during the summer, just contributing in a different role. While my responsibilities will change, my commitment to Shankitunk and the people who make it what it is certainly will not.
As we look forward to our 100th summer, we will be starting the process shortly in determining our next Camp Director. Being a Camp Director is both a great privilege and a tremendous responsibility. I hope that you will afford them the same patience, support, and commitment that you’ve shown me. We are all in this together in continuing to create that Shankitunk experience that we all have come to expect, love, and look forward to.
Thank you for trusting me as your Camp Director and for the countless ways that you all make 4-H Camp Shankitunk a better place for everybody. I’m very proud of what we have accomplished together, and excited for what we will continue to accomplish moving forward in this new chapter.
I’ll be lingering a little longer around camp, I’ll see you there.
Jon Conklin