Day 1: Olympic National Park

Less than twenty-four hours.

That's all the time between saying goodbye to one incredible group at North Cascades and welcoming thirty-six new educators to Olympic National Park.

Normally, we have two full days between camps. Those days give us time to unpack, reorganize supplies, catch our breath, and prepare for what's next. This time, there wasn't any of that.

Steve and I, along with our incredible ambassadors Amanda, Dave, Rachel, and Desiree, arrived together at NatureBridge around 11:00 this morning. In just two hours, we unloaded vehicles, transformed empty spaces into welcoming learning environments, organized supplies, prepared materials, set up registration, and somehow made it all feel like camp had been waiting for our educators all along.

There's something beautiful about people who don't ask, "What needs to be done?" because they're already doing it. They simply stepped in, saw the need, and made today happen. Steve and I are deeply grateful for each of them.

Then another first happened.

For the first time in fifty-one STEAM in the PARK adventures, every single camper arrived between 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. There were no delayed arrivals, no late check-ins, and no one missing our opening welcome. It may sound like a small thing, but it gave us the gift of beginning together.

After dinner, we wandered into the Moments in Time Trail, a quiet pathway through one of Olympic's temperate rainforests. Here, massive Sitka spruce and western hemlock have stood watch for centuries while nurse logs give life to a new generation of trees. Every fallen giant becomes the beginning of something new, while thick blankets of moss remind us that in this rainforest, even stillness is full of life.

It was the perfect setting for our opening reflection, Becoming.

Together we spoke words that we hope will shape this week: wonder, belonging, courage, curiosity, grace, listening, rootedness, kindness, hope, and becoming. We talked about arriving with full calendars, busy minds, and expectations—and giving ourselves permission to simply notice. To slow down. To listen. To become.

Our annual Book Buddy exchange followed, and just like every camp, strangers began becoming friends. There were smiles everywhere—and yes, a few wonderfully sleepy faces from educators who had boarded East Coast flights before sunrise and somehow still found enough energy to laugh, connect, and embrace the evening.

We closed Day 1 gathered around our first campfire on the shores of beautiful Lake Crescent. As the fire crackled and the mountains settled into twilight, it felt like the week quietly whispered, "You're exactly where you need to be."

Thirty-six educators. Countless stories. One shared adventure.

We have a feeling this group didn't just come to learn from Olympic National Park. They came to learn from one another.

"Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." — Henry Ford