38 | FEBRUARY 3 • 2022 

I

t was “the summer of the swab.
” 
For Camp Walden in Cheyboyan, 
Michigan, as for many overnight sum-
mer camps, “swab” was the four-letter word 
of 2021. But testing for COVID-19, by 
repeatedly sticking thousands of Q-tip-like 
swabs up the noses of campers and staff, 
was also key to how this northern Michigan 
camp completed last season without one 
case of the COVID virus. 
“I knew the directors would make the 
campers’ and staff’s safety their No. 1 prior-
ity, and they absolutely delivered,
” says Sheri 
Marcus, parent of two Detroit-area Walden 
campers. 
The plan for running a physically and 
mentally healthy camp in 2021 was a year 
in the making. It involved not just Walden’s 
own team of administrators and health 
professionals, but collaborations with many 

camp directors, both in Michigan and 
nationally. The monumental effort paid off: 
Not only was camp safe, say parents and 
campers, it was fun. 
Walden’s leadership “struck what I truly 
believe was a perfect balance between cau-
tion and safety, and a recognition that camp 
still had to be camp,
” says Jessica Fink, a 
Walden parent in San Diego, “with lots of 
testing and precautions leading up to camp 
… and then easing into what — according 
to my son — felt like a pretty normal camp 
experience.
” 
But Walden had to completely rethink 
how camp was going to function while 
cohorting and distancing were required. 
Typically, Walden’s 200-plus campers create 
their own individual activity schedules and 
by the second full day of camp, they are 
crisscrossing the woods, heading to activi-
ties on their own. 
“This intentional mixing of 
young and older, boys and girls, 
is really integral to Walden’s feel,
” 
Director Scott Ruthart says. “We 
were really focused on making 
that first week — where you 
could only be with a small group 
— a meaningful and exciting 
one.
” 
For some campers, the added 
precautions were less a nuisance 
than they were a comfort. “The 

mask-wearing and testing made my child 
feel safe,
” says suburban Chicago parent 
Shira Gaule. “Her anxiety is sky high right 
now with COVID, so knowing the camp 
is taking COVID seriously is extremely 
important to me and my daughter.
” 
The most challenging aspect of manag-
ing the virus was confronting unexpected 
situations, says Dr. Amanda Alexander, a 
Walden camp doctor and Metro Detroit 
pediatrician, who spent most of last sum-
mer managing Walden’s COVID response. 
“We came into the summer with certain 
plans and policies, most of which contin-
ued, but there were also many unforeseen 
circumstances to address.
” 
Walden’s directors understood that 
the pandemic’s mental-health toll meant 
campers and staff would need additional 
support in 2021. They reached out to three 
social work professionals, all Walden alums: 
Brooke Bendix in Detroit, Alison Chroman 
in Chicago and Amy Shafer in Pittsburgh. 
Each spent a week to three weeks living and 
working at camp. 
“Giving staff and campers a safe space to 
reflect on their thoughts and emotions from 
the year … was incredibly rewarding,
” says 
Chroman, whose children attend Walden. 
“In many instances, just being an active lis-
tener seemed to help.
” 

Liz Stevens is the director of Camp Walden.

CAMP GUIDE

Careful plans addressed 
physical and mental 
health of Camp Walden 
campers.

‘Summer 
of the 
Swab’

LIZ STEVENS 
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

Dr. Amanda Alexander, center, 
with Walden 2021 camp health 
officers Danica Stenzel, left, and 
Ellie Ackerson, right.

Emy Beckett, right, daughter of Sheri Marcus, 
and friend Sarah Kaplinsky of Dallas.

